Al-Mohannadi elected ATTU president, China's Xu to serve as deputy

DOHA - Khalil Al-Mohannadi was elected president of the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) at the biennial General Meeting here on Sunday, while current Chinese paddler Xu Xin and South Korean legend Kim Taek-soo were named deputy presidents of Asian table tennis' governing body.

Al-Mohannadi, current deputy president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), becomes the sixth president of the ATTU.

The Qatari follows in the footsteps of Japan's Rizo Kawakami (1972-1974), Hisao Kido (1974-1976) and Atsushi Goto (1976-2001), who were succeeded by Li Furong (2001-2009) and Cai Zhenhua (2009-2021), both from China.

Elected deputy president of the ATTU in 2001, Al Mohannadi held this position until 2003. He reassumed it in 2009 and served in this role until now.

Xu, 31, won two Olympic gold medals in the men's team event at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and is a 20-time world champion.

The entire Executive Committee of the ATTU was elected unopposed, including president Al-Mohannadi, deputy presidents Kim and Xu, secretary-general Afshin Badiee and treasurer Mohamed Baqir Sajad.