Al Mohannadi Announces Appeal To CAS

Doha: President of the Qatar, Arab and Asian Table Tennis Federations and First Vice President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Khalil bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi has officially filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne to contest the ITTF presidential elections.

Al Mohannadi described the case as one of“fraud and violation of democratic legitimacy,” echoing media reports that labeled the election outcome the“steal of the century.”

The elections, held in Doha in May, ended with Al Mohannadi leading 98–87 in votes cast by national federation representatives present in the hall. However, Swedish candidate Petra Sorling gained an unexpected 17–4 advantage through remote electronic voting, tipping the final result. Al Mohannadi rejected the validity of the 21 electronic ballots, noting that the number had originally been set at 16. The sudden increase, he said, shocked the General Assembly.

In a statement released by the Qatar Table Tennis Federation, Al Mohannadi emphasized that the 2022 General Assembly in Doha - where 185 federations voted in person - reflected the true will of the membership. He stressed that administrative decisions or internal ITTF procedures should not override the democratic mandate, calling any such move“a violation of the essence of the electoral process and its credibility before the international sports community.”

Responding to ITTF President Sorling's recent remarks that“the file has been closed” and“the elections have been decided,” Al Mohannadi called the statements“misleading and inaccurate.”

He pointed out that the ITTF's internal arbitration decision is not final and remains under review by CAS.

Al Mohannadi underlined that the legal process will remain open until the ITTF General Assembly in London in 2026, where federations will again have the chance to vote.
“Table tennis is bigger than any administrative or political dispute,” Al Mohannadi noted.

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