Elected member of the ETTU Athletes Commission Chiara COLANTONI has become acting Commission chair. Representing European athletes COLANTONI will also participate with the right to vote in the meetings of the ETTU Executive Board.
The other members of the Commission are England’s Paul DRINKHALL Sweden’s Jon PERSSON and Spain’s Jose RUIZ REYES.
“I got the news from Galia DVORAK who was in the past a chair of the Athletes Commission and is now the ETTU project manager and she asked for my availability taking into account that the other three members had agreed. I replied that I would be honored to fill this position of responsibility. I intend to take part in some tournaments and to begin to get in touch directly with the athletes. I will be in mid-July in Belgrade at the European Youth Championships and in early August in Munich at the European Championships. The problem that worries athletes most at the moment is the considerable cost of participating in World Table Tennis events and the difficulty that mid-level athletes and young people in particular have in qualifying to these tournaments. We will discuss this one and other critical issues ” said COLANTONI.
For the first time Italy is at the helm of the Athletes Commission and COLANTONI joins Alessandro ARCIGLI who is the chair of the ETTU Para Commission.
The president of FITeT Renato DI NAPOLI welcomed the news with great satisfaction: “I am really proud that one of our representatives occupies a position of such a responsibility in the context of the continental table tennis. Chiara is a member of our Federal Council and is a very capable young woman. Being a high-level athlete she can perfectly convey the needs of her colleagues to give a significant contribution to the growth process of our sport. Having her and Alessandro Arcigli at the helm of two important ETTU Commissions confirms Italy as a reference country and a bearer of professionalism which can contribute to the progress of table tennis. I wish Chiara my most affectionate good luck for her work certain that she will be able to embody her role with enthusiasm and proactiveness and will be engine of novelty”.
