By Neha Aggarwal
Khalil Bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi will be heading the Arab Table Tennis Union for the tenure of 2017-2020 as he replaced Professor Mohammad Husseini, who decided not to run for another cycle. Mohannadi’s election was received with wide acclamation by the members of the committee at the elections that took place during the Annual General Meeting of the Arab Table Tennis Union at El Mouradi Hotel Gammarth Tunis, Tunisia.
Mohannadi’s election as the president of the Union gives him an additional opportunity to work towards the development of the game as he prepares for the biggest electoral battle for presidency of the International Table Tennis Federation, which will be held in May in Düsseldorf, Germany.
“I want to transform the Arab Table Tennis Union for a generation of young people by laying the foundations of a true system, in which they can work in the future. We promise to build a system that will constitute a sophisticated ideology that will contribute towards the progress of the game of table tennis,” said Mohannadi on a positive note.
Along with Al Mohannadi, the Arab Table Tennis Union, in its new council of seven members, also elected Egyptian Dr.Alaa Meshref for the post of Vice President of the Union. The other five members that were elected are: Wael Noureddine from Lebanon, Issam Alfaquir from Yemen, Alhaji Monquid from Morocco, Kamal Zitouni from Algeria and Radwan Mohammed Sharif from Palestine.
Mohannadi stressed that this new system opens its arms to all who want to work and contribute to the development of Arab table tennis with love and peace.
He also added with great confidence in his leadership, “This is the beginning of a new era for the union and we will all work as a team and we will spare no effort through our new programs and plans.”
The meeting was held in the presence of Assistant Secretary General of the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees, Saad Bin Saleh Al Sufiyan, and a majority of other members of the 12 Arab countries that have the right to vote. Sufiyan acknowledged the great enthusiasm that all the countries have shown and applauded the election of Khalil Al Mohannadi as president of the Union. He stressed that Al Mohannadi’s leadership will help in unifying the Arab countries and is a beginning of a new era for Arab table tennis.
He said, “The Union of Arab National Olympic Committees extends its congratulations to the new council and wishes them well. We hope to carry out all the activities and programmes that can develop the game in the future.”
