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ITF elects new president

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Posted: Friday July 09, 1999 04:39 PM

NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (AP) -- Italy's Francesco Ricci Bitti was elected president of the International Tennis Federation on Friday, replacing Australia's Brian Tobin who stepped down after eight years in office.

Ricci Bitti, 56, beat five other candidates to land the post, including former tennis bad boy Ilie Nastase. Ricci Bitti was elected in the first round of voting after garnering 173 of the 345 votes cast by delegates at the ITF's annual general meeting.

Italians now fill the presidential positions of five major international sports federations.

The other four include: International Amateur Athletic Federation chief Primo Nebiolo; Aldo Notari, International Baseball Association president; Bruno Grandi of the International Gymnastics Federation; and International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta.

Ricci Bitti, the Italian Tennis Federation president who also spent 10 years on the ITF's board from 1987-1997, replaced Tobin who left the post after two four-year terms.

"My first aim is to be a good successor to a great man," said Ricci Bitti, a former player on Italy's national junior tennis team.

Balancing tennis' traditionalism with the demands of television and commercial sponsors would be one of the greatest challenges of his four-year term of office, he added.

"On one side, our game is living on tradition, on the other side, we need television coverage which has different requirements. We need to shorten the game," Ricci Bitti said.

"People are not so easily convinced for change but on the other side the game must be appealing for television."

Tobin said he sympathized with Ricci Bitti's balancing act.

"We get pressure from a lot of people to change the game, make it more exciting and then everybody complains that you are trying to change the game" he said.

Harry Marmion of the United States was second in voting with 91 votes. Nastase, notorious for raucous outbursts on the court during his professional tennis career, received just nine votes.

 

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