Iwas the first to start the game at the end of February. By declaring himself a candidate for the presidency of the French Table Tennis Federation, Miguel Vicens (64 years old) knew that the match promised to be difficult against the current president Gilles Erb. A few days before the election scheduled for Saturday December 7, the Agenais says he is “confident” and above all has no regrets: “Even if it was hard, we had a very good campaign. I now hope that the clubs will sort things out and read the programs of the two candidates in detail before voting. »
Because the votes of some 3,500 clubs will be preponderant for the first time in this election where they will weigh for 50%, the votes of the departmental committees and the leagues still being in equal shares, but at only 25% now. “This is the first time that the clubs are going to vote,” recalls Miguel Vicens. If the election took place as before, I would be elected. But here, I don’t know how the club vote will go. It’s an electronic vote, they will have until 2 p.m. to vote on December 7. But will they vote? »
“A president doesn’t do that”
While waiting for the verdict, Miguel Vicens wanted to make a real rant against the practices of outgoing president Gilles Erb: “He is vice-president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF). He uses his position to lobby and organize support meetings in Olympic Committee premises. How can the Olympic movement be involved in a federal campaign? It’s not very balanced… He can’t do that, a president doesn’t do that. If he behaves like this, he must really be in dire straits. »
“If I am beaten, there will at least have been an exchange of ideas and I don’t mind at all if they are taken up again”
The president of the CNOSF, David Lappartient, also issued a small “call to order” to all the federations recently in the columns of “L’Équipe”. “He banged his fist on the table a bit,” confirms Miguel Vicens. But I trust elected officials to sort things out. Some very quickly denounced this interference. If an athlete does not respect the rules, it means that he has no place. I take this more as a sign of panic than anything else. I remain confident for this election. And I repeat: a president does not do that. »
“Get back to basics, to the clubs”
After having increased the number of video meetings with elected officials from the leagues, departmental committees and clubs, Miguel Vicens remains convinced that he has a chance of dethroning the current president. To launch the campaign, the man who was coach and educator of SU Agen for thirty years resigned from all his mandates (vice-president of the European Union and the Mediterranean Union). The former Burkinabé international footballer has a very specific objective if he is elected: “Return to the base, to the clubs, rather than the virtual. »
Miguel Vicens announced his candidacy for president of the FFTT at the end of February at the COJC, alongside the former president of SU Agen Michel Sanz.
F. C.
Denouncing “last minute gifts” to referees and a bonus of 500 euros to clubs, Miguel Vicens is aware of the scale of the task: “Since the Paris Olympics, table tennis has enjoyed a great aura. The current president tends to hide behind this to say that everything is fine. But the French team remains a showcase and, when we enter the house, we see that everything is not going well. Gilles Erb’s luck is the Lebrun brothers [NDLR : leur père est sur la liste de l’actuel président]otherwise there would be no match! »
The results announced on December 7 at 5 p.m., after the general assembly at the Olympic Committee in Paris, will signal the end of the game. “If I am elected, it will allow me to achieve certain things (read elsewhere)”, warns Miguel Vicens, involved for twenty-seven years in the mysteries of the Federation and who would then become the first president of the FFTT installed below the Loire. “If I am beaten, there will at least have been an exchange of ideas and I don’t mind at all if they are taken up. I will leave my place to the young people and I will do something else. »
His project
Artificial intelligence to support clubs. Miguel Vicens is a visionary and innovative leader. Agenais is notably at the origin of the establishment of the European digital ranking. If he is elected head of the FFTT, the man who was notably vice-president under the previous mandate has a new revolutionary idea in the pipeline: “I have a project with artificial intelligence. I want to provide technological tools to clubs so that they are no longer dependent on the Federation. » This does not prevent him from wanting to “bring back proximity”: “I want to listen to the clubs. This is why I have experienced people in my team, both at the territorial and federal level, particularly overseas. Former FFTT employees are even ready to come back and reinvest on a voluntary basis. »
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