CAS terminates ITTF election appeal, Petra Sörling’s presidency stands confirmed

The ITTF’s presidential fight is no longer hanging over the boardroom. With the Court of Arbitration for Sport ending the appeal tied to the 27 May 2025 election in Doha, Petra Sörling’s 104-102 victory over Khalil Al-Mohannadi now stands confirmed all the way down the line.

That matters because this was never a routine margin. Sörling prevailed by just two votes at the Annual General Meeting, and the challenge that followed moved first through the ITTF Tribunal, which issued an operative decision on 1 September 2025 dismissing the appeals filed by Al-Mohannadi and the Qatar Table Tennis Association. The tribunal’s full written decision followed on 23 September 2025, again confirming the AGM and the election result. The ITTF has said its statutes make that operative decision immediately enforceable once communicated to the parties, so the federation treated the presidency as settled long before CAS formally closed the case.

The CAS step was the last procedural chapter. Al-Mohannadi and QTTA withdrew their appeal on 7 January 2026, and CAS issued a Termination Order on 14 April 2026. The ITTF Executive Board announced that termination on 15 April 2026, making clear that Petra Sörling’s election as ITTF President for the 2025 to 2029 term stands confirmed. For ordinary table-tennis followers, the practical effect is simple: the federation now has a settled top office and can move forward without the cloud of an election dispute over every policy decision, appointment, or championship announcement.

That clarity comes at a useful moment. The ITTF entered its centenary year in 2026, marking 100 years since the federation was founded and the first World Table Tennis Championships were held in London in 1926. The 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London are already being used as part of that anniversary push, and a confirmed presidency gives the federation a steadier platform for a year built around history, branding, and the sport’s global profile.

Still, this is not a blanket clean bill of health. The ITTF says the Integrity Unit’s separate inquiry into alleged misconduct surrounding the same 27 May 2025 AGM remains ongoing, and that process is independent of the executive board. So the election result is now closed, but the wider trust question has not disappeared. That is the distinction that matters inside table tennis: the presidency is settled, the leadership line is confirmed, and the federation can plan with more certainty, but the governance story still has one active thread running alongside the centenary celebrations.