New York Times Table Tennis Article

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Marcus Allison

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May 26, 2025, 5:23:35 PMMay 26
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Qatari Push to Dominate Another Sport, Table Tennis, Draws Scrutiny - The New York Times.pdf

Albert

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May 26, 2025, 7:08:11 PMMay 26
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Interesting!  There's a lot to unpack here...  First, the former representative of the Swiss Federation unintentionally has forced a rehashing of the events of 2021 in the ITTF--surrounding then President Thomas Weikert (referred to in the NYT article, but not mentioned by name) and his deputy, the Qatari TT Association President Mohammed Al-Mohannadi.  Unfortunately, thanks to the fact that TT gets very little coverage worldwide, most of us out there have heard very little of the controversy raging within the ITTF.  The only place I could find reporting on it was from an obscure Spanish sports news website called Inside the Games.  To find a list of stories they produced back in 2021, go to this article, read it, then scroll to the bottom of the page for a list of related articles proceeding it: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1112144/ittf-weikert-no-reelection-bid

In the NYT article, it mentions that the Swiss man, Georg Silberschmidt (pronounced "GAY-ork SIL-ba-shmit"--in English, that would be "George Silversmith"), was distributing pamphlets related to a new TT players' union that has recently been created.  I regularly visit players' instagram pages to see if there's any news and I noticed that, back in April, several players posted this message on their instagram pages: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIv4H9YNwf7/.  I got that from Simon Gauzy's instagram page, but several players around the world posted very same message on the same day, April 22nd.

So, it appears that TT players have created a new players' union despite the fact that they already have a players' union, the so-called ITTF Athletes' Commision.  There can be no clearer vote of no confidence in the ITTF than that!

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes in the ITTF for the past 4+ years and there has been very little coverage of it.  It's unfortunate that the NY Times didn't interview former president Thomas Weikert--although when you think about it, it kinda makes sense as that would open up a massive can of worms that they understandably don't want to go into given the scant amount of attention they give to TT.  

Actually, back in 2021, I looked through the German sports media and found no interviews of him at all.  I wish somebody would interview the guy and let him go through everything that happened back in, say, 2020 and 2021, including what went on between him and current ITTF President Petra Sorling, because, back then, she came out against him and was pushing the ITTF to install her in his place, which they eventually did.  Also, I'd like to know what went on between him and Al-Mohannadi, because I heard that Weikert fired Al-Mohannadi and then the ITTF "reinstated" him, prompting Weikert to take the ITTF to court.  Maybe Weikert should write a "tell-all" book about the whole sordid tale.  Anyhow, as for this new players' union, it'll be interesting to see how it represents the players going forward.

Marcus Allison

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May 27, 2025, 5:59:02 PMMay 27
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Albert, 

  Thanks for this. 





  

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Albert

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May 27, 2025, 9:38:19 PMMay 27
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Albert

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May 27, 2025, 10:13:23 PMMay 27
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I just realized I got the Qatari President's name wrong--it's Khalil al-Mohannadi.  I'm now watching a video of the election of the President today and they did in fact have "voting irregularities" as he asserted afterwards.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6XZPec701s [ITTF Annual General Meeting 2025].  When you watch this video, you can't help but think it's a wonder anything gets done over there

AJ Scott

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May 31, 2025, 2:41:39 AMMay 31
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This, from the online sports mag, Inside The Games, on the controversial reelection of Petra Sorling to another 4-yr. term: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1153609/behind-rules-re-election-petra-shook-ttf

AJ Scott

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May 31, 2025, 9:00:54 PMMay 31
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