ETTU Executive Board meeting was held in Sarajevo during the European Under 21 Championships under the leadership of Acting President Pedro MOURA.
The two days meeting was attended by EB members: Acting President Pedro MOURA Acting Deputy-President Heike AHLERT Vice-President for Finances Sandra DEATON Vice-President Sonja GREFBERG Vice-President Ina JOZEPSONE Vice-President Miguel VICENS Athletes Commission Chair Chiara COLANTONI Secretary General Pierre KASS Deputy Secretary General Galia DVORAK.
While Executive Board was updated on 2022 and 2023 ETTU financial situation the ETTU official representation during next World Table Tennis Championships in Durban and the Memorandum of Understanding with TT Cup some very important and strategic decisions were taken towards the future:
Development Program Manager will present Executive Board a plan to financial support the Member Associations willing to participate on the new Europe Youth Series.
The Executive Board confirmed to introduce a Final 4 event starting with the 2023-2024 season for both Champions League men and women and confirmed to reintroduce quarter finals with home and away matches for the Champions League men. An open tender will be finalised for the Final 4.
The EB has also approved a proposal to change the system of play for the “Stage 1” of the European Team Championships considering international calendar busy schedule. In the proposal the 18 best teams will be directly qualified to the Final Stage of the European Championships. The Final Stage will be played by 24 teams with the current system of play. All the teams which are not directly qualified will compete for the remaining 6 spots (or the remaining 5 spots in case the host team of the final stage is not qualified directly) at the “Stage 1”. All the matches of this stage will be played in one event and one location. The system of play of the “Stage 1” will consist of a group stage and a knockout stage. A regulation proposal will be prepared for the ETTU Congress in Malmö.
Finally followed by the ITTF Executive Board announcement regarding the endorsement of the recent statement from the International Olympic Committee ETTU Executive Board discussed the same topic of the status of players with a Russian or Belarusian passport in the international competitions. The Executive Board accepted by majority of the votes to join a working group with ITTF and the Russian Table Tennis Federation. “This working group has the objective to evaluate a possible pathway for the return of Russian and Belorussian players to ETTU competitions under IOC and ITTF recent recommendations ” said Acting President Pedro MOURA.
