Petra Erika Gummesson Sörling (born 12 January 1971) is a Swedish sport administrator and business executive who has served as President of the International Table Tennis Federation since 2021, the first woman to hold that office. Re-elected in 2025 for a term to 2029, she has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2023, the first ITTF president to be elected to it.
Under her presidency, table tennis has reached several milestones. The ITTF World Table Tennis Championships 2023 in Durban were the first held in Africa since 1939, and the Olympic table tennis competition at Paris 2024 drew over 230,000 spectators across 15 days. The ITTF launched the Mixed Team World Cup in 2023, a format combining men and women in the same team that was subsequently added to the Olympic programme for Los Angeles 2028, and in 2026 announced a Doubles World Cup to begin in 2027.
Early life and education Sörling grew up in Malmö and holds a BSc in Business and Administration from Lund University and a degree in Management and Leadership from Stockholm School of Economics.
Career Sörling has worked for over 25 years in the real estate, construction and urban planning industry in Malmö. She was CEO of Rosengård Fastighets AB from its founding in 2017 until February 2026, having previously worked at HSB Sundsfastigheter. From March 2024 she took leave from the role to concentrate on the ITTF presidency and stepped down following her re-election.
Sports administration Sörling joined the board of the Swedish Table Tennis Association in 2003, serving as Deputy President until 2013 and as President from 2013 to 2022. She was Vice-President of the European Table Tennis Union from 2007 to 2009.
She was elected to the ITTF Executive Committee in 2009, serving as Vice-President from 2009 to 2013 and as Executive Vice-President of Finance from 2013 to 2021, with responsibility for areas including the Para division and sustainability.
On 24 November 2021, Petra Sörling was elected President of the International Table Tennis Federation, becoming the federation's eighth President and the first woman ever to hold the position.
On 17 October 2023, at the 141st IOC Session held in Mumbai, India, Sörling was elected as a Member of the IOC, the first ITTF President to become an IOC member. She has served on the IOC Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission since 2022 and also sits on the Sustainability and Legacy Commission.
She has been a board member of the Swedish Olympic Committee since 2021 and is currently its Deputy President. She has been a member of the WADA Foundation Board and the ASOIF Council since 2023, sits on the SportAccord Executive Board and the Executive Committee of the International Masters Games Association, and is a member of the Advisory Board for International Affairs of the Swedish Sports Confederation.
In May 2025, Sörling was re-elected ITTF President for the 2025–2029 term, defeating Khalil Al-Mohannadi of Qatar by 104 votes to 102 at the Annual General Meeting in Doha. Appeals against the result by Al-Mohannadi and the Qatar Table Tennis Association were dismissed by the ITTF Tribunal in September 2025. A subsequent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was withdrawn by the appellants in January 2026, and CAS formally terminated the proceedings in April 2026, confirming the election of Sörling as ITTF President for the 2025–2029 term.
Playing career Sörling plays competitively in masters table tennis. Partnering Denmark's Pia Toelhøj, she won the women's doubles 45–49 title at the 2018 World Veteran Championships in Las Vegas, and the pair took silver in the women's doubles 50 category at the 2023 World Veteran Championships in Muscat, Oman. The same year they won bronze in women's doubles at the European Veterans Championships in Sandefjord, Norway. She has played club table tennis for Hillerød GI in Denmark, with whom she has won the Danish women's league championship.
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