The assembly saw the elections of Juergen Schrapp from Germany as WPV President, Elvira Stinissen from the Netherlands as WPV Vice President and Milan Milosevic from Croatia as WPV Medical Director.

Anton Raimondo from South Africa was elected as Development Director by acclamation.

WPV President elections

A total of 41 votes were cast at the WPV President elections.

Juergen Schrapp won by 65.85%, while the other candidate, former WPV President Lori Okimura, registered 34.15%.

“Playing for so many years, I have had the chance to learn a lot about Paravolley and the needs of athletes. I want to help that we continue developing our sport around those needs, as the aim always has to be to serve the athletes.

Reach out and raise your voices for your needs – only then a co-creation of the future of our sport is possible,” Schrapp commented for a PVE interview a few months ago.

WPV Vice President elections

Elvira Stinissen was elected as WPV Vice President, winning the elections over Jenni Cole (AUS), David Cox (USA), Jean-Baptiste Murema (RWA) and Hadi Rezaei Garkani (IRI). With a total of 43 votes cast, Stinissen got a 39.53% in the first ballot, while the second one - Jenni Cole (AUS) registered a 27.91%.

In the second ballot, Stinissen won by 59.52% over Cole.

“I have the experience of a player and team captain. I believe that is the most important expertise. To know what is important for athletes, what their needs are, what obstacles you run into when you are a player. For example, the classifications. The impact in players and teams is so big when that is not organised in a proper way.

Besides that I have the experience to develop sitting volleyball within the Netherlands. I have a wider perspective on sports, building networks and leading teams in my work. Also being part of different boards as a member, chair or vice chair makes me know the world around the athletes. What does it take to build relationships with, for example the IPC. My time within the IPC Athletes council taught me so much. What does a sport need to do to be and stay a paralympic sport, how can classification improve, how can we learn from other sports,” Stinissen shared in an interview for PVE at the beginning of 2024.

WPV Medical Director Elections

Dr. Milan Milosevic (CRO) was elected as the new WPV Medical Director, winning the first ballot with 55%, leaving behind the other two candidates Dr. Saro Keresteciyan (CAN) and Dr. Koohpayehzadeh Esfahani (IRI).

Find out more about Juergen, Elvira and Milan here and their mission and vision for the next four years.

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The remainder of the World ParaVolley Board consists of:

The two Athletes’ Commission members that currently hold seats on the Board are current athletes:

Ms. Heidi Peters as Team Leader of the Athletes’ Commission

Mr. Ivan Cosic as Deputy Team Leader of the Athletes’ Commission

Meanwhile, the other ongoing positions are:

Dr. Stephen Giugni OAM as Sport Director

Ms. Christine Shelby as Marketing Director

Mr. Ehab Hassanein as President of ParaVolley Africa

Mr. Lu Cailiang as President of Asia Oceania

Mr. Branko Mihorko as President of ParaVolley Europe

Mr. Joe Campbell as President of ParaVolley Pan America

Mr. Phil Allen as General Manager (non-voting)

Mr. Benno Meijer as Treasurer (non-voting)

Mr. Graham Arthur as General Counsel (non-voting)