World Table Tennis Association: Wild Families for Fraud in Presidential Election

Participants fear for life

Wild allegations of fraud in table tennis election

Chaotic scenes at the congress of the World Table Tennis Association ITTF: After the election defeat of the Qatarian candidate, there are allegations of fraud.

The election of the President of the World Table Tennis Association ends with a scandal. Petra Sörling prevails with 104 to 102 votes against the Qatarian candidate Khalil al-Mohannadi. The Swedish IOC member is confirmed in its office. After the result became known, there is a loud tumult. The election result is questioned from the al-Mohannadis camp.

The reason for displeasure trigger the 21 votes released online, as “mytical tennis” reports. The number should not match the number of participants who are on the presence list before starting the election. Sörling gets 17 of the 21 votes, while Al-Mohannadi only receives four.

Those responsible for the World Table Tennis Association declare the deviations by the fact that members of the voting are still voting rights after the start of the meeting. The discussion is becoming increasingly hot. According to the journalist Jens Weinreich, Sörling is said to have “left the hall in a fleeing and brought himself to safety”. She was not the only delegate who feared her security. Some participants would have said that they fear for their lives.

The congress is canceled after an hour. According to Swedish media reports, a crisis meeting of the board should decide on how to proceed. A contestation of the choice by Qatar is in the room.