Austrian Table Tennis Association has elected a new President. Mr. Hans FRIEDINGER former Vice-President for Top Sports was elected unanimously at the General Meetingย for a period of two years. President FRIEDINGER has been President of the Upper Austri
Austrian Table Tennis Association has elected a new President. Mr. Hans FRIEDINGER former Vice-President for Top Sports was elected unanimously at the General Meetingย for a period of two years.
President FRIEDINGER has been President of the Upper Austrian Table Tennis Association for more than two decades and he was officiating as Austrian Sports Director for 14 years. In 2009 he has been elected โOfficial of the Yearโ out of all Austrian sports officials โAs official I am proud to have joined the career of our World Champion 2003 Werner SCHLAGER. For more than 50 years I am an active player at present of course on a modest level โ added President FRIEDINGER.
In the interview for the ETTU web site newly elected president revealed his future plans.ย โAustria is a small country with a long table tennis tradition. At present the international performance of our players is fine and our internal structure is still improving โ stated President FRIEDINGER.
President FRIEDINGER spoke about the programs.ย โWe will certainly increase international training activities. We are lucky to have the Werner SCHLAGER Academy as a privileged tool but will still try to participate in training camps in China and other countries and will also try to enhance partnerships with some competitive associations.โ
– What will be the main focus in your work in next period and can you introduce us with most important points in your presidential program?
โI have been Sports Director of our association for a long time and as a consequence I am still very much interested in top sports. Key words of my activity will be โDynamic Developmentโ โProfessionalismโ โActive Engagement and Commitmentโ as well as โRepresentationโ.
– What is your main goal in this Olympic cycle?
โA clear and short answer โ the first Olympic medal of an Austrian table tennis player.โ
– Who will be the key players for next period in Austrian national team?
โOur top players Robert GARDOS Daniel HABESOHN Stefan FEGERL LIU Jia Amelie SOLJA and Sofia POLCANOVA are already challenged by our promising youngstersโ.
– What is your opinion about the situation in European table tennis regarding the expansion of Asian sport?
โWe have to admit reality. On medium-term we are forced to develop strategies for bringing up more and stronger native European players. I am convinced that the only way to improve our sport in Europe significantly is to have more joint high-quality training camps โ starting already at young age categories. So this way of co-operation is seriously needed.โ
