By Duncan Mackay

Stefano Bosi speakingApril 2 - Italy's Stefano Bosi today launched a surprise bid to replace Canada's Adham Sharara as President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).


Bosi made his announcement on the eve of the start of the European Championships in Vienna. 

Bosi, President of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), will start as the outsider against Sharara, who has led the sport for 14 years, at the ITTF Congress in Paris on May 15. 

"A huge part of the table tennis family, including myself of course, disagrees with the current ITTF strategy to centralise everything and reduce the autonomy of the continents further," said Bosi.

"This system has generated serious problems even in terms of financial fair-play: we have got the evidence of some serious infringements happening."

Bosi, who represented Italy at international level 250 times and was national champion on seven occasions, claimed that there was a lack of transparency within the world governing body.

"There's no transparency inside our International Federation nowadays," he said..

"We would like the ITTF, one of biggest international sport associations in the world with 217 affiliated countries, moving back to becoming a great sport community, rather than a business district."

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