May 12, 2009
New Members Add Experience to ITTF World Hopes Team
 (Left to Right) ITTF Junior Commission Chair: Tony Yue, ITTF Education Director: Mikael Andersson, ITTF President: Adham Sharara, and CEO and President of Tamasu / Butterfly: Shunsaku Yamada. |
Courtesy of ITTF |
Presented with the official playing shirt designed by the team sponsor Tamasu / Butterfly - Mr. Sharara was added to the team as a special mentor and adviser, a role he gladly accepted on the spot. Also joining the team from the same spiritual angle was the ITTF Education Director Mikael Andersson.
Both new members are far off in terms of physical age, although claim was laid by the recipients during the presentation that; “young mindful thinking also could qualify”.
The ITTF World Hopes team 2009 is composed of twelve young hopes, born in 1997 or 1998, selected from over 160 applications endorsed by 43 national associations. The team will practise and compete in Chengdu, China in June and also participate in the "Euro Minichamps" in Strasbourg, France at the end of August. The project, powered by Butterfly, is the first year of operation and will see investments in the very youngest of age categories (Hopes) reach approx US$ 180,000 over the coming three years.
Appointed as the team manager is Mrs. Zita Pidl from Hungary who is joining the ITTF Education Department on a part-time contractual basis.
Head coach for the two activities in China and France will be the experienced and internationally acclaimed coach Dejan Papic. Mr. Papic is currently coaching at the Quebec High Performance center in Montreal after serving several years as the national coach for both the Qatar Table Tennis Association and Canada.
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