ITTF in London adopted a new constitution in the year of its centenary: a reformist turn after a tense period in world table tennis
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) adopted a new constitution at the annual general meeting held in London, thereby making one of the most important institutional moves in the recent history of the sport in the year marking its centenary. According to the federation's official announcement, ITTF members accepted the so-called Centenary Constitution at the session held on Sunday, 3 May 2026, as part of the centenary annual general meeting. The decision was made in the same city where the international table tennis organization was founded in 1926 and where the World Team Championships are also being held this year, so the vote also carried strong symbolic weight. The new constitutional arrangement was presented as a foundation for the second century of international table tennis, but also as an attempt to establish a clearer framework for the work of the global federation after months of disputes over governance, elections and procedures.
London as a return to the beginning and a politically important stage
London was not merely a ceremonial backdrop for the decision on the new constitution. In its official announcements, the ITTF emphasized that table tennis, after one hundred years, was returning to the city where the first world table tennis events were held and where the institutional history of the federation began in 1926. This year's gathering was held alongside the World Team Table Tennis Championships London 2026, and the competition takes place from 28 April to 10 May 2026 at London venues connected with major sporting events, including the Copper Box Arena and OVO Arena Wembley. Such a context gave the assembly additional weight because it was not only a commemoration of sporting tradition but also a decision that should influence the way the sport is governed in the next period.
The ITTF emphasized that the new constitution is the result of a process launched at the 2025 annual general meeting in Doha, when the members supported the renewal of the federation's statutes. That mandate served as the formal basis for the Centenary Constitutional Reform, that is, a reform process aimed at modernizing the organization's fundamental rules. In official documents, the ITTF stated that the reform primarily concerns the constitution as the fundamental document that determines the federation's structure, principles and competences. In this way, the London decision became the final political point of a process that lasted for months and included consultations with national associations, continental bodies and other stakeholders in the table tennis community.
What changes with the new constitution
According to the published information from the ITTF, the final draft of the new constitution retained the general direction of the reform presented earlier in 2026, but after the second round of consultations it included important amendments. Among the areas specifically listed are the voting system, the structure of the Council, the procedure for constitutional amendments, integrity, the composition of the Executive Board, the structure of committees and transitional provisions. Such a list shows that this is not a cosmetic change of language in statutory documents, but an intervention in several key points of governance of an international sports organization. For a federation that brings together a large number of national associations and operates within the Olympic system, rules on voting, oversight and representation directly affect the balance of power between the leadership, the members and continental structures.
In its official communication, the ITTF emphasized that the reform was shaped by broad consultation and that the goal was to create a document that responds to modern requirements of sports governance. The need for an accessible and inclusive process was especially emphasized, with members having the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft constitution through a consultation platform in the official languages of the ITTF. The federation also published explanations and materials intended to improve understanding of sports governance, which indicates an attempt to ensure that the debate on the reform is not reduced only to a narrow circle of legal and political actors. For international federations, such openness is becoming increasingly important because decisions on governance rules are increasingly viewed through the criteria of transparency, integrity and accountability to the membership.
The reform comes after a disputed election year
The adoption of the new constitution cannot be viewed separately from the events that marked the ITTF during 2025. At the annual general meeting in Doha on 27 May 2025, Petra Sörling from Sweden was re-elected president of the federation, and according to the ITTF's official announcement she received 104 votes, while her opponent Khalil Al-Mohannadi from Qatar received 102 votes. Such a narrow result, together with disputes over the procedure and the continuation of the session, opened a period of institutional tensions. The ITTF then stated that 208 members were registered for the vote and that the rules allow voting live, online or in hybrid form. At the same time, the federation announced that after the publication of the results there had been an interruption and that measures would be taken to prevent similar disruptions in the future.
After the election, Al-Mohannadi challenged the process, and Qatari media published his claims about alleged irregularities and the announcement of further legal steps. According to reports from Qatar, the appeal process was connected with questions of transparency and integrity of the election process, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport was also mentioned. The ITTF, on the other hand, defended the conduct of the election and published its own interpretation of the procedure. Precisely for this reason, the London adoption of the new constitution has an additional political dimension: the new rules were presented as a mechanism for stabilizing governance, but their real value will depend on how they are applied in future electoral, disciplinary and governance situations.
The centenary constitution as a response to broader demands of sports governance
In international sport, constitutions and statutes are not only administrative documents. They determine who has the right to vote, how leaders are elected, how disputes are resolved, how committees are formed and how the work of commercial or development structures connected with the federation is overseen. In recent years, the ITTF has operated in a complex environment in which sporting tradition overlaps with commercial reforms, the global competition calendar, para table tennis, development programs and the World Table Tennis model. In such a system, clear delineations of responsibilities and competences become important not only for national associations but also for athletes, competition organizers, partners and the public.
The available documents indicate that with the new constitution the ITTF wants to align its own structure with the changes that have occurred in the sport since the federation's founding. In official announcements, it was emphasized that the framework from 1926 cannot simply be transferred into the second century, because both the sport and expectations toward governance have changed. This is a message that fits into a broader trend in the Olympic movement, where international federations are increasingly expected to have clear rules on integrity, representativeness, gender equality, conflicts of interest, financial oversight and athlete protection. The new ITTF constitution will therefore in practice be measured by whether it will reduce room for procedural disputes and increase members' confidence in decision-making.
The consultation process and the role of members
The reform process was formally launched in 2025, after the members gave a mandate for the renewal of the statutes. In January 2026, the ITTF announced the completion of the first phase of consultations, stating that it involved broad engagement of members and stakeholders from the global table tennis community. In February, the first draft of the new constitution was published with accompanying comments, after which a new phase of consultations was opened. According to information on the official reform pages, the second consultation was open until 6 April 2026, and members were offered the possibility of targeted commenting on the draft, as well as individual conversations with the ITTF's governance lead, Dr Andrés Constantin. In this way, the federation sought to show that the document was not imposed from above, but developed through a formalized participation process.
Such an approach is important because constitutional reforms in international sports federations often raise the question of legitimacy. Members want to retain influence over the fundamental rules, while federation leaderships usually emphasize the need for more efficient governance and faster decision-making. The balance between these two needs is especially sensitive in sports with a wide geographical spread, different levels of development of national associations and strong continental interests. Table tennis is precisely such a sport: it is globally present, with very strong centers of power in Asia, an important European tradition, growing ambitions in Africa and the Americas, and development challenges in smaller associations. The new constitution will therefore also be viewed through the question of whether it will give different parts of the membership a sense of real inclusion.
Connection with the competition calendar and the centenary
The London assembly was held at a time when table tennis was already in the spotlight because of the World Team Championships. According to organizational information, 64 men's and 64 women's national teams each are taking part in the championships, and the event is conceived as the central sporting celebration of the centenary of the world championships and the international federation. Such linking of competition and institutional decisions is not accidental. In its announcements, the ITTF used the centenary as a framework for emphasizing continuity, but also the need for renewal. The message is clear: the return to London serves as a reminder of the beginnings, while the new constitution should mark the transition into the next phase of the sport's development.
The competitive part of the year also shows how much more complex table tennis is today than at the time of the ITTF's founding. Alongside classic world championships, the federation and connected structures manage a branched system of tournaments, qualifications, para table tennis, development programs and commercial competitions. Because of this, the federation's legal framework no longer serves only to define the basic rules of play and membership, but also to regulate relations between the sporting, commercial and development parts of the system. In this sense, the new constitution may have consequences that go beyond the assembly procedure itself: it could influence the manner of appointing bodies, oversight of connected organizations and the channel through which members exercise influence on long-term strategic decisions.
The test will be implementation, not only adoption
Although the ITTF described the adoption of the new constitution as a historic moment, for the members and the broader sporting public its implementation will be crucial. A constitutional text can establish clearer rules, but the stability of the institution depends on whether those rules will be applied consistently, especially in election procedures, appeals, conflicts of interest and the relationship between executive bodies and the membership. After the tensions of 2025, the federation is entering a period in which every major decision will be viewed through the prism of the new governance framework. If it turns out that the new rules reduce procedural ambiguities and strengthen confidence in decision-making, the London assembly could be remembered as a moment of institutional consolidation. If, however, the old tensions continue, the new constitution will be only the beginning of yet another debate on how global table tennis should be led in the second century of its existence.
Sources:
- ITTF – official announcement on the conclusion of the centenary annual general meeting and the vote on the new constitution (link)
- ITTF – page on the Centenary Constitutional Reform process and published materials (link)
- ITTF – final draft of the new constitution and description of changes after consultations (link)
- ITTF – working documents for the 2026 annual general meeting in London (link)
- Xinhua / ITTF – report on the disputed election process at the 2025 annual general meeting in Doha (link)
- Gulf Times – report on Khalil Al-Mohannadi's appeal and the continuation of the election dispute (link)
- Table Tennis England – information on the World Team Championships London 2026 (link)