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ITTF President takes Executive Committee to court

By our reporter On Mar 23, 2021 0

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Executive Committee has informed Thomas Weikert that he has lost their “trust, confidence and support” in the latest crisis at the top of the organisation.

A statement from the ITTF Executive Committee said that the members will take all decisions on a majority basis until the next Annual General Meeting.

The ITTF Executive Committee said it had taken the action to help find “positive solutions to recent and ongoing difficulties”, adding they needed to “act on their democratic and constitutional rights in order to unify the Executive Committee in the best interest of the ITTF”.

The ITTF Executive Committee said it has voted in favour of reinstating Khalil Al-Mohannadi as the ITTF Deputy President.

Al-Mohannadi will be reinstated “until such time as the initial purported decision-making authority of the President and any and all allegations against the Deputy President have been fully clarified and dealt with in accordance with due process and natural justice and as set out in the ITTF Constitution”.

“For me there is nothing to celebrate in the middle of a crisis, but today won the democracy, common sense and justice,” a statement from Nestor Tenca, ITTF Executive Vice-President responsible for rules and the constitutional review.

Weikert said he would take legal action before the respective sports courts against the decision of the Executive Committee, which he described as “unauthorised interference with his rights and a blatant violation of the ITTF Constitution”.

Weikert had written to national federations, the ITTF Board and committees last month to inform them that Al-Mohannadi had been removed as Deputy President on February 23.

Weikhert wrote “agreement on strategic goals and mutual trust are the prerequisites for effective cooperation between President and Deputy” but said “this unity no longer existed, and that led to my decision”.

In a letter to member associations sent today and seen by insidethegames, Weikert said a letter had been sent by Al-Mohannadi to him last month, along with all Executive Committee members and senior ITTF officials.

Al-Mohannadi reportedly wrote that to Weikert that “In the last few months, I have found you are mainly only bringing to the ITTF conflicts and problems”.

Weikert said the letter had come around the same time as a “plethora of documents containing serious accusations were submitted to the ITTF and all its member federations by the Swiss Table Tennis Federation.”

“These accusations concerned the moral conduct of Mr Al-Mohannadi and question whether he had concealed his connection with the table tennis industry in 2017, therefore being ineligible according to the ITTF Constitution and thus deceiving the Member Associations at the AGM,” Weikert’s letter said.

“This case is currently being handled by the ITTF Integrity Officer.

“I consider the reinstatement of Mr Al-Mohannadi as Deputy by a majority of the EC to be unlawful and have therefore appealed to the independent Tribunal of the ITTF, which can decide in such conflicts.”

Swiss Table Tennis last month expressed concerns over Al-Mohannadi’s position.

The National Federation said it was “more than understandable why our President has taken this step” to remove Al-Mohannadi as Deputy President and questioned whether it is “even legal for Mr. Al-Mohannadi to remain a member of the EC”.

Swiss Table Tennis accused Al-Mohannadi of having misled the Annual General Meeting, suggesting that he should not have been able to have run for ITTF vice-president.