For Petra Sorling and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), 2025 was a tumultuous year. The Swede, the first-ever female President in the history of the sport, was re-elected in Doha in May after beating Khalil Al-Mohannadi, her Qatari opponent, by just two votes. There were protests regarding the validity of the online votes which led to the suspension of that Annual General Meeting. The matter even reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Now, the dust has settled. With big ticket events such as the Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon and several important issues impacting the sport, Sorling’s second term as President is a crucial one.

In an exclusive interview with  Sportstar on the sidelines of the World Table Tennis Day celebrations in Kapadwanj, Gujarat, Sorling shares her thoughts on the importance of making the LA Olympics count, the controversy regarding the 2025 elections, the issue of prize money, technology, the review system, and more:

Q: What are your thoughts on celebrating World Table Tennis Day and commemorating 100 years of the ITTF in a small place like Kapadwanj. What does it mean to you and how did you plan this?

First and foremost, I’m very happy with the warm welcome in India and the celebration in Kapadwanj. We have been so warmly welcomed by the communities and it goes without saying that I feel very happy and proud of this celebration. But it’s also not only a celebration on this day, this is a long-term project and we work together with the communities and with our partners here, KKM (Kapadwanj Kelavani Mandal) and the Dani Sports Foundation. And I’m very happy to meet the young boys and girls here who tell the story of how table tennis has impacted their lives.

Q: ITTF and India have a long association. India is now hosting a lot of international events as well. Chennai hosted a WTT Star Contender. There were a couple of feeder and youth contender events as well. And later this year, the country is going to host the Commonwealth Championships. What is in store for India when it comes to the future? Will Indians fans also get to witness bigger events like WTT Champions or Grand Smash soon?

Table Tennis Federation of India was one of the founding members of ITTF 100 years ago. So, yes, there is a long tradition of table tennis in India. What I’m extremely happy about is to see the growth of table tennis in India in the last few years. We feel that we can do much more in such a big country where table tennis is a very good sport. You can pick a racket and you can play literally everywhere. I was extremely proud to present medals to the players from India at last year’s edition of the Youth World Championships because it’s a very high-level event. I come from Sweden, a country with a long tradition, and we were not even qualified to play.

I do believe that these results come by all the investments that you have done locally with a lot of events. Not least, the UTT League where players have been used to this international environment. When the players have been able to play at home but also learn a lot from the international coaches and players. You have also been very good at investing in players travelling the world, playing a lot of events on all levels. So, on that topic, of course, you’re more than ready to take on the next level of events – title events or a Grand Smash. So, I’m looking forward to coming to India also for those events in the future.

Q: At the global level, table tennis is a growing sport. It’s one of the most popular sports. But still, there are some markets which it is yet to capture. And in that aspect, how big is the LA 2028 Olympics for table tennis? You’ve mentioned in past interviews that you’re not happy with the capacity of the venue there. How important is it for your sport to capitalise on these coming Olympics?

When I took office as president, I identified two markets as priority for us. One was India and the other was America. Table tennis in LA 2028 offers six medals (men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed team). We are very happy that we are the racquet sport with the most medals. However, we do have a small venue and it will be filled up very easily which I think is good in a way because we can already see the demand for the tickets released recently.

But we have to work very hard to establish ourselves as one of the top eight sports in the Olympic program. We are on a good journey there. If the venue is too small, we have to use outdoor parks and try to add value so that everyone who likes to see table tennis can be part of the family. This holds up for the next editions as well.

But I already see table tennis growing in the U.S. Last year, we had a Grand Smash in Las Vegas. This year, we will have it at the Ontario Convention Centre in Los Angeles. That’s also a very good segue into LA 2028 and for what comes afterwards. We are working very hard on growing in these markets.

Q: You’re one of the few female presidents of a global sports body. How has your experience been so far?

It’s been five years. I was elected to the ITTF Executive Board in 2009 and I was the only female in the Executive Board during that time until 2021, when I was elected as the first-ever woman president in 95 years. So, I’m happy to be the one that shows that it’s possible but I’m even more happy that after the 2025 elections, we now have a gender equal Executive Board. And I do believe that it’s not a coincidence. I think that by opening doors, we can be more diverse.

Being one of the very few female presidents of an international federation is also a big task to carry because I really try to motivate and provide that spirit for more women to take on that office and to go for elections. At the moment, we are four female presidents in all sports – Summer and Winter Olympics. So, there is room for many more.

Q: Coming to last year’s elections, there was a little bit of controversy and it took some time to solve all those issues. How did that affect the sport?

The last year had been stressful for us with the AGM turning out to create a lot of political stress. However, I must say that I’m very proud of how we went through that year due to the robust structure that we have. ITTF, of course, is the heart but our commercial arm, WTT, running the events as usual and the foundation, the social arm running all the social activities as usual. We, at ITTF, stabilized ourselves and we came out with a stronger board and a stronger ITTF than before. Hard work pays off. I really believe that it turned out to be a good platform for the next 100 years to come.

Q: You also come from a business background. Table tennis is not one of the lucrative sports. Sometimes, it’s not easy for a player to make ends meet. Many players have complained that unless they make it to the very deep end of the tournament, it’s not easy for them to break even. How do you address this issue of prize money and better pay for players?

It’s a very important question for us. We were very proud already in 2008 when we had equal prize money. But it doesn’t mean that the prize money is enough.

The prize money must be on a level. So, as a player, you can live your dream and be a table tennis player professionally. We are working hard now to make our WTT profitable so that we can return those investments also in higher prize money.

This is a job that we do together with the athletes and I must acknowledge here that we have very good athletes. They are really contributing in every aspect of our sport.

Q: Players are a lot happier when there is the presence of technology in bigger events like the review system for World Championships, World Cups and Olympics as well. But when it comes to other events, what is the plan? Is it too big a financial ask for any event or are you planning to somehow make it affordable for everyone?

When it comes to new technology, of course, it’s very expensive in the beginning. And today, actually, it’s only the financial aspect that is the reason for us not to go all out because we can see that it creates a good fair play. Of course, we can still improve a little bit on how we are using the cameras, etc. but this is the way to go.

Hopefully, with new technology, when there will be competition, more people will deliver this kind of system and we can launch it on a wider scale.

Published on Apr 27, 2026