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Adham Sharara (born Cairo 24 March 1953) is a Canadian sports official. He is current Chairman and Honorary President of the International Table Tennis Federation, having succeeded Xu Yinsheng in 1999. [1] [2] He retired as ITTF President on 2014, and was succeeded by the Deputy President the German Thomas Weikert. [3]
Adham Sharara was President of the ITTF for 15 years, from 1999 to 2014.
In November 2007, Adham Sharara addressed the health risks related to using rubbers that are freshly glued to the blade for "a faster game" because of the associated harmful volatile compounds. [4] In February 2008, he expressed his agreement with the proposal to limit citizenship-switching players, a measure that targeted specifically Chinese players accepting deals that include changing their nationality. [5] In 2011, he moved the ITTF's headquarters from China to Singapore, to develop ties in this region and distance the federation from China's dominance in the sport, [6] a topic he seriously addressed in his last years of tenure. [7]
Sharara was elected to the newly created position of "Chairman of the ITTF" on 28 April 2014 at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Tokyo, Japan. [8] [9]
In 2019 ITTF announced that found Mr Sharara had breached his fiduciary duties during his terms of office. Mr Adham Sharara was suspended from all activity within or in connection with the ITTF for four years. [10] Mr Sharara appealed the decision at the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. The ITTF and Mr Sharara reached a settlement on 1 November 2020 and the suspension was cancelled. Mr Sharara remains Honorary President.
Table tennis is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players take alternating turns returning a light, hollow ball over the table's net onto the opposing half of the court using small rackets until they fail to do so, which results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick reaction and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin, which can affect the ball's trajectory more than in other ball sports.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations that use ITTF-approved sponge table tennis rackets. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including the World Table Tennis Championships that has continued since 1926.
Li Jiawei is a retired Chinese-born former Singaporean table tennis player, four-time Olympian and twice Olympic medalist. She trained in Beijing's famous Shichahai Sports School with Olympic medalist Zhang Yining. In 1995, she moved to Singapore and in the following year, she commenced her international career as a competitive table tennis player. She became a Singapore citizen at the age of 18 years under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme.
The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in even numbered years.
Paul Andrew Drinkhall is a British table tennis player. He won the English Championship in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017.
Feng Tianwei is a Singaporean retired table tennis player. Born in China, she permanently moved to Singapore in March 2007 at the age of 20 under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme and commenced her international career in competitive table tennis the following month.
Wang Yuegu is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player who was ranked among the top ten players in the world. Wang made her inaugural appearance as a Singaporean table tennis player on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour in June 2005 at the Volkswagen Korean Open in Suncheon, South Korea, where she and Sun Beibei took the silver medal in the women's doubles. On 24 September 2006, Wang achieved her first gold medal on the Pro Tour at the Japan Open in Yokohama. She repeated the feat against her compatriot Li Jiawei on 12 November at the ITTF Pro Tour German Open in Bayreuth. In June 2007, Wang helped Singapore sweep the women's team, women's doubles and mixed doubles gold trophies at the 17th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in Jaipur.
Gao Ning is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. He is currently appointed as the Singapore Table Tennis National Coach for men. He is considered Singapore's best male player with a world ranking of 34 as of August 2016. He was first in men's singles at the 2007 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships. In 2018, Gao and Yu Mengyu won the men's singles and mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games.
Andrew Baggaley is a professional table tennis player from Milton Keynes. He is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.
John Alfred Leach MBE was a British table tennis player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for News of the World. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2023 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
The Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) is an Asian table tennis governing body formed on May 7, 1972, and recognized by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1975. ATTU was founded by 16 member associations, currently, 44 member associations are affiliated to ATTU.
Ding Ning is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships.
Yu Mengyu is a retired Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. In the same year, Yu made her international debut for Singapore.
Ichiro Ogimura was a Japanese table tennis player, coach, president of the ITTF and former World No. 1 who won 12 World Championship titles during his career. Ogimura was also a key figure in the Ping Pong Diplomacy events of the early 1970s, as well as being instrumental in Korea playing as a unified team at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.
Li Furong is a Chinese male table tennis player. He was a native of Zhejiang province starting to play table tennis at 15 and joined the national team in 1959. Li helped the Chinese men's team win four team titles at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1971. In men's singles competitions, he made 3 consecutive appearances at the finals of the World Championships in 1961, 1963, and 1965. However, Li lost to compatriot Zhuang Zedong in all of the three finals, making himself become one of four players who played in three finals without winning. Rumor had it that Li's losses at the finals were prearranged. The 1961 Championships was referred as the commencement of match fixing in history of Chinese table tennis.
Liam Benjamin Pitchford is an English table tennis player. He is sponsored by Victas.
Xu Yinsheng is a male former table tennis player from China.
Stefano Bosi is a former Italian table tennis player, and currently President of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). He is a candidate for presidency of the International Table Tennis Federation ITTF.
Fan Zhendong is a Chinese professional table tennis player. After joining the Chinese national table tennis team in 2012 as the youngest member of the team, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion. In April 2018, he achieved the top spot in the world rankings after holding position No. 2 for 29 consecutive months, starting from November 2015. He won the Olympic gold medal in men's singles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, becoming just the 6th male player to achieve a Grand Slam.
Thomas Weikert is a German sports official. He was the president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) from 31 May 2017 to October 2021, when Petra Sörling took the office. Formerly the Deputy President, Thomas Weikert became President in 2014 when Adham Sharara, who had held the office since 1999, assumed the role of Chair and Honorary President of the International Table Tennis Federation. As ITTF President, he is also the ex officio member and President of the Governing Board of ITTF Foundation.