Doha, 4 October 2021 - Qatar Table Tennis Association president and ITTF Deputy President Khalil bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi on Sunday was elected as the new president of Asian Table Tennis Union at the ATTU General Assembly.
The meeting was held at the Majlis Hall of Sheraton Hotel.
“Qatar has provided a lot for international and Asian table tennis in recent years. Today, it became the home of international table tennis,” said Al Mohannadi.
The QTTA head has been credited with contributing to the ITTF strategic plan in 2018 and also improving its governance while the Qatari’s leadership at QTTA has increased the profile of the sport in the country and the Middle East.
“The recent period witnessed Qatar embracing all regional and international tournaments since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But before that Qatar had hosted seven tournaments from Asian to international. It’s a record number and has not happened in any country in the world.”
Al Mohannadi, who is also the president of Arab Table Tennis Association, joined the World Table Tennis (WTT) as managing director last year. The WTT was set up by the ITTF on August 2019, and formally announced in March last year.
He was chosen by the ITTF executive committee to be a managing director and representative of the ITTF in the WTT in recognition of his great role and efforts to advance the world table tennis.
“When we say Qatar has become the home of world table tennis, we are not exaggerating,” he added.
Khalil, who has led QTTA since 1995, has been the brain behind the successful organisation of ITTF World Tour Qatar Open, which completed 25 years.
“Everyone knows that without the support of the Qatar Olympic Committee headed by His Excellency Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, we would not have reached these successive achievements, whether in terms of hosting and organizing tournaments or even winning continental and international positions.”
This is the first time that an official from the Arab region has won this position and first time from outside China and Japan to be elected as Asian TT head.
“I am now the sixth president of the ATTU after three presidents from Japan and two from China. I’m now looking forward to working with everyone and joining hands together in order to reach the game’s maximum possible success rate. I feel very optimistic due to the presence of a great proportion of harmony and homogeneity between all new board members,” said Al Mohannadi.
