Igor Levitin, who is currently a Member of the ITTF President’s Advisory Council and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Table Tennis Federation of Russia, announced his intention to run for the ETTU presidency in May this year and expressed his desire to implement new, innovative measures to ensure a positive evolution of the sport in Europe, traditionally one of the strongest table tennis markets globally.
In an open letter, Mr Levitin put forward the following ideas:
“How can we make the ETTU Champions League even more attractive? Entering into the third decade of the century, should new events be considered as the best tool to reposition our sport and elevate it to the status it deserves? Or should we look to enhance our existing events?
“I recognise that hosting a tournament of any level, particularly the European Championships in its current format, can be a financial, technical and/or organisational burden on the organiser. But, in my opinion, we can explore ways to make it not only viable to host this flagship event, but also profitable.
“Should we consider separating the qualifying and final stages of the European Championships to ease this burden and maximise commercial opportunities? With the current system, or with a new one? Should we embark on the multisport European Championships as it is apparently decided?
“These questions have to be carefully studied by all ETTU members before giving a corporate answer. Securing more media coverage and enabling our Member Associations to host and showcase our sport must be some of our key priorities.” – Igor Levitin
Nominations for the ETTU Executive Board closed on Friday 31 July 2020, with the following candidacies confirmed:
President (1 candidate) – Igor LEVITIN (Russia).
Deputy President (1 candidate) – Pedro MOURA (Portugal).
Vice President Finance (2 candidates) – Sandra DEATON (England) and Roland NATRAN (Hungary).
Vice President (10 candidates for 5 available positions) – ROBERT RENNER (Austria), Vladimir SAMSONOV (Belarus), Nikolas ENDAL (Czech Republic), Peter Ernst SUNDBAEK (Denmark), Sonja GREFBERG (Finland), Miguel VICENS (France), Heike AHLERT (Germany), Ina JOZEPSONE (Latvia), Cristinel ROMANESCU (Romania) and Selçuk DEMİRBAŞ (Turkey).
The successful candidates will each begin a four-year term until 2024. Outgoing ETTU President, Mr Ronald KRAMER (Netherlands), has been at the helm since 2013.