04 Apr 2017

The French Federation of Table Tennis (FFTT) has re-elected Christian Palierne as President after he claimed the majority of the votes at the elections on Saturday 25th March.

by Simon Daish

Receiving around 74% of the votes at the election Christian Palierne retained his position as President of the FFTT, and following the result he praised the work ethic and commitment of association during his time in the role.

“The result is very good. It values ​​the work carried out by the management team and the orientations taken during the last Olympiad”, Christian Palierne.

Outlining his vision for the near future of table tennis in France, President Christian Palierne told the FFTT website that he wants to see the national association take advantage of an evolving sport and believes that the FFTT has a duty to help clubs and grassroots initiatives to be run successfully moving forwards.

“We must find a greater unity of functioning. In this time of the computing, it is essential to lighten our administrative procedures, for the management of competitions for example. We will also have to unify our financial rules in order to reduce the disparity in licensing rates or transfers from one department to another. Above all, I expect from this new Olympiad a redefinition of the prerogatives and responsibilities of the various federal bodies. The department must be better able to assist the clubs in their development actions. The region should take over administrative management and training. Finally, the Federation must play the role of pilot and expert”, Christian Palierne.

French table tennis endured many ups and downs across the previous Olympic cycle, from an arguably underachieving campaign seen at the 2016 Olympic Games to a momentous occasion at the 2016 European Championships where Emmanuel Lebesson and Simon Gauzy went head-to-head in the Men’s Singles final.

Moving into the next Olympic cycle President Christian Palierne has set out a preliminary set of targets to achieve, while also laying out his intent to see France host the 2019 European Championships.

“High-level players must evolve according to a project. They need a framework. The first project for the Olympiad is the Olympic tournament at the Tokyo Games in 2020. The second project revolves around our candidacy for the organization of the European Team Championships in 2019. We are currently in the phase of choosing the host city of the competition. We will present our case at the 2017 European Championships in Luxembourg… We will then aim to get closer to the podiums at the 2019 European Championships”, Christian Palierne.

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