by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Presidents of the newly elected members are from Bahamas, Geoffrey McPhee; from Cape Verde, Jorge Silva whilst in Eritrea it is Berhane Isaac, in Guinea Bissau Avelina Jandi.
Michael Brown, ITTF and Africa-Oceania Development Co-ordinator, visited Eritrea in May 2016 to conduct a Coach Education Course, as earlier this year in January, did Leandro Olvech, the ITTF Director-Development when he set foot in Cape Verde.
It was for Glenn Tepper, ITTF Deputy Chief Executive Officer, mission accomplished
“Back in 1999 I was assigned the role of the development director and I was given 3 main tasks: To set up a worldwide development program To set up an ITTF Coach Accreditation structure. And lastly to have every country on earth as a member. This was more of a dream than a realistic goal at the time with 180 members, but I took this seriously and we slowly added a few countries each year in a sustainable manner providing technical and equipment support.” Glenn Tepper
Later in the year in May, both Leandro Olvech and Thomas Weikert, ITTF President travelled to Guinea-Bissau, whilst later this month Richard McAfee of the United States will conduct a Coaches Course in the Bahamas,
“We love what we do and we do what we love.” Leandro Olvech
Plaques were presented in the presence of Thomas Weikert, ITTF President, to the new member associations at the Annual General Meeting. In addition training shirts will the concept the ITTF in Mars were distributed to all delegated.
“Thanks to all my colleagues, thank you to the National Olympic Committee of Guinea Bissau and to Avelina, the new President of Guinea Bissau, new member, last member on earth; thank you all.” Thomas Weikert
Further a film with subtitles in English, French, Arabic and Spanish was also shown.
The acceptance of the four new members very much underlined the theme of the Liebherr 2017 World Championships “One Game, One World”; Germany’s Timo Boll being the ambassador.
“The side events at this Düsseldorf World Championships have been for sure the best ever. The concept of One World is perfectly aligned with the ITTF pillars: popularity, universality and inclusiveness. All countries now members, fits the One Game, One World motto.” Leandro Olvech