This is family business. Kanye West song fits this story well. Our recent video about the promotion of Latvian interests over the European by it’s vice-president Ina Jozepsone, caught some attention. However, there is much more to uncover. Our research on this topic has gone further and thanks to some of the journalists from the Latvian media outlets, we have a better picture of everything related to the Latvian Table Tennis Federation. This organization is a pure example, of why it should be forbidden for close relatives to be involved in the same organization. Otherwise, nepotism and personal interests prevail.
As you can see, Jozepsone has no ethical dilemmas about holding two positions at the same time that are creating a conflict of interest (especially, seeing all the recent favors Latvia is getting). Or promoting her son’s playing career, using the high position in the local federation, as well as involving his father into another position that is available in the Latvian federation. Recently, it went even further, and Daniels Kogans might become one of the members of the ETTU’s Athlete Commission. Why not? Family Business could go beyond Latvian borders. ETTU seems in favor of it.
An interesting case is Aleksandrs Maskaļonoks and his addition to the board of the Latvian federation. A Latvian international, who has ranked 1140th in the World Ranking back in 2018, Maskaļonoks, along with several other Latvian players, has been disqualified by TT Cup (one of those basement tournaments, where some betting companies allow to put bets even on the games of complete amateurs) for undisclosed reasons. Estonian media outlet Delfi.ee published a few very good materials about this tournament specifics. What could cause Maskaļonoks and other players to receive a disqualification in such kind of a tournament where players get paid 8-20 euros for simply participating… The question remains open.
But as you can see, reputational damages do not matter for LTTF or Jozepsone, as long as the newly-elected board member can be useful, and help bringing in some lucrative sponsorship deals from the betting company he works for. Too much of the word betting around this story, don’t you find?
We tried to find out the opinion of the president of the European Table Tennis Union, Pedro Moura. Unfortunately, he has ignored our letters and such Ostrich effect looks like an approval of ETTU towards all these weird things going on around Ina Jozepsone and her shady activities in the LTTF and ETTU. It honestly looks that table tennis administration is in its all-time lowest point. ITTF president Petra Sƶrling made the ITTF elections look like a circus and a complete disgrace, Ina Jozepsone promotes her personal interests on all levels, and ETTU president Pedro Moura seems to be the ostrich in this case, enjoying the Depeche Mode masterpiece, and silently bowing to this kind of behavior by his colleagues. Ironically, these are the same people, who love to bring up and talk about the transparency, accountability inclusivity and popularization of table tennis.
āStrong governance is fundamental to supporting growth innovation and inclusivity. Transparency integrity and accountability are core principles that will guide my leadership. Weāve already built a solid foundation with our Strategic Plan and I pledge to continue ensuring that the ETTU operates with these values maintaining regular communication with all member associations. We want to remain aligned with their needs and aspirations,ā in an interview once said Pedro Moura.
What a shameless hypocrite…
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