Olympic official Petra Sörling wins table tennis election in close vote disputed by Qatari opponent

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — In a hard-fought election, IOC member Petra Sörling retained the presidency of the International Table Tennis Federation on Tuesday in a 104-102 win over her Qatari opponent.

It is rare in Olympic sports elections for an incumbent president and IOC member to be challenged so directly.

Supporters of the losing candidate, ITTF senior executive vice president Khalil al-Mohannadi, then called into question the integrity of the vote held after Qatar hosted the world championships.

Delegates in an increasingly chaotic election hall in Doha were told the ITTF executive board was going into an emergency session to decide on the next steps.

Sörling, re-elected for a second four-year mandate, is one of just three female presidents of a governing body of more than 30 Olympics sports on the Summer Games program.

The Swedish official was elected in 2023 as an International Olympics Committee member.

Al-Mohannadi has been a member of the ITTF board for most of the past three decades. He left the board for three years from 2006 after an election for deputy president was annulled. That election dispute went to an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where the judge found “convincing evidence that bribery did take place” including offers to reimburse travel expenses.

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