New ITTF Athletes Commission Members Elected – 5 Europeans on Board

The International Table Tennis Federation announced the ITTF Athletes’ Commission election results. The following ten athletes were elected by their peers out of 25 candidates; they will serve a four-year term.

Name

Votes

Election criteria

SAMARA Elizabeta (ROU athlete)

74.91 %

Highest-voted Athlete from Europe

ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND athlete)

66.08 %

Highest-voted Athlete from Asia

RIOS Daniely (PUR athlete)

46.64 %

Highest-voted Athlete from the Americas

ASSAR Omar (EGY athlete)

45.94 %

Highest-voted Athlete from Africa

TAPPER Melissa (AUS athlete)

42.40 %

Highest-voted Athlete from Oceania

FEGERL Stefan (AUT athlete)

57.95 %

Next highest voted Athlete

PERSSON Jon (SWE athlete)

57.60 %

Next highest voted Athlete

LIU Shiwen (CHN athlete)

54.77 %

Next highest voted Athlete

LUNDBACK Ingela (SWE para-athlete wheelchair)

52.26 %

Highest-voted wheelchair Para-Athlete

VAN ZON Kelly (NED para-athlete standing)

48.39 %

Highest-voted standing Para-Athlete

“I feel deep emotion joy and I am amazed! I am grateful to all of my colleagues who voted for me there are so many! I feel responsible for each of the players and I just wish not to disappoint them ” said SAMARA.

The elections were held between Monday 7 to Sunday 13 November. Voting was online using LUMI ®. The number of voters among athletes increased by 18% compared with the election held in 2018 while participation of para-athletes almost tripled.

Petra SÖRLING ITTF President commented:”I would like to thank all the candidates and congratulate the ten elected athletes. The Executive Committee and I are looking forward to working closely with them. The Athletes Commission is crucial as it links the athletes and the ITTF ensuring the athletes’ priorities and viewpoints are communicated and represented. I am also delighted by the large increase in the number of votes; our athletes are more and more engaged in the future direction of the sport of table tennis.”

All members of the Athletes’ Commission will be invited to the forthcoming ITTF Summit in December in Amman Jordan. At the summit the commission along with IOC Athletes’ Commission member RYU Seung-Min will elect two chairs to sit on the ITTF Executive Committee. For the first time the two chairs will be one man and one woman to ensure gender parity.

Full results and information about the ITTF Athletes’ Commission election can be found here..

 

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The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

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