Straight after my exclusive 20-minute interview with the Swedish leader I was asked to send the quotes I planned to use to be checked by her to ensure nothing had been lost in translation.

The ITTF has also recently appointed Tristan Lavier as head of communications.

Sörling is clearly determined to make sure she gets the message right at the International Federation which has been engulfed by a war of words for many months.

Her predecessor, Thomas Weikert, found himself at the heart of a bitter feud - as Sörling, who was previously the ITTF’s vice-president of finance, refused to hold back her criticism of the German official.

Sörling wrote a joint letter with the-then Deputy President Khalil Al-Mohannadi in May 2020, denouncing Weikert for "a lack of strategical and constructive initiatives…to safeguard the ITTF from a financial point of view in these difficult times."

The organisation’s Executive Committee also told Weikert in March this year that he had lost its "trust, confidence and support" and said it would take all decisions on a majority basis until the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM) where Sörling was elected unopposed as the ITTF President.

Weikert described the Executive Committee’s decision as "unauthorised interference with his rights and a blatant violation of the ITTF Constitution" as he threatened to take legal action before the respective sports courts.

Al-Mohannadi had also been reinstated as Deputy President by the Executive Committee after being removed by Weikert.

Weikert, who had led the ITTF since 2014, said the "unity no longer existed" between himself and the Qatari.

As the pair continued to trade shots, table tennis had turned into political ping pong.

There was huge division at the very top of a sport which has been on the Olympic programme since Seoul 1988.

Sörling has now tasked herself with the job of uniting the International Federation but believes communication will be key to achieving that.

She believes the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced meetings and discussions to be held online rather than in-person, has played a large role in fuelling the disagreements over the past 18 months.

"There was not only a lack of communication between different parts of this body but also with our 227 members," said Sörling, following her election at the AGM in Houston in the United States.

"I think that meetings behind the screens were not efficient because there were many changes at the same time as a pandemic.

"To be here in Houston and to meet again for the first time in two years in person with many members really created a big possibility for me as the new ITTF President to communicate better and create a good team.

"We need to have more face-to-face meetings.

"To understand better you have to communicate more so to take the time to be together and to inform each other within the ITTF family.

"It is not only to meet but also to have the chance to debate which is what we like to do in table tennis.

"We like to have transparent organisations where we can discuss things and then move on together which was not so easy during the pandemic."

Sörling said the global health crisis also did not help the launch of World Table Tennis (WTT) - a commercial and business vehicle.

The WTT was set up by the ITTF in 2019 with the aim of modernising the commercial business activities of table tennis.

It led to the introduction of a series of new events with the promise of increased prize money and a more modern experience for fans, broadcasters, players and hosts.

But the WTT has been criticised by some National Federations including the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB).

In November last year, the DTTB claimed the implementation of the WTT had violated "essential principles of good governance and transparency" and disempowered National Federations – concerns which were supported by the French Table Tennis Federation.

There were also accusations that the Grand Smashes - the premier tier of WTT tournaments - had been created to overshadow the ITTF World Championships as they offer as many ranking points.

An independent review carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers found in January this year that the WTT had been launched with good governance and financial compliance, following all the relevant codes, regulations and confidentiality requirements.

As well as the WTT, the ITTF Foundation was established as the social responsibility arm of the organisation with the aim of using table tennis to promote development and peace.

The ITTF, the ITTF Foundation and the WTT all fall under the umbrella of the ITTF Group which is led by Sörling and chief executive Steve Dainton.

Sörling admits the structure of the organisation needs to be clearly communicated with defined roles but is looking forward to staging more WTT events in 2022.

"You said confusing, and I said communication, communication, communication," said Sörling.

"What we have to explain is that World Table Tennis is part of the ITTF.

"It’s fully owned by the ITTF.

"Maybe like other businesses that will not be the case in the future, but this is how it is at the moment and it’s the same as the ITTF Foundation.

"We have the ITTF and it’s 227 members, we created a foundation which is our social arm and then we took back all our commercial rights to make them in house and created World Table Tennis to be our business arm.

"I think we have a lot of possibility with our events structure.

"Nobody knew that 2020 would be such a difficult year but on the other hand it made us stop, reflect and rethink.

"Now we are more and more eager to restart."

After seven years in charge, Weikert decided in August not to run for re-election later because he did not agree with "the course that the ITTF and WTT are taking".

This opened the door for Sörling to be elected for a four-year term unopposed at the AGM on November 24.

She has been joined by eight vice-presidents including Al-Mohannadi, Nigeria’s Wahid Oshodi, China's Liu Guoliang, Brazil’s Alaor Azevedo, Egypt's Alaa Meshref, Japan’s Masahiro Maehara, Hungary’s Roland Natran and Australia's Graham Symons.

"In 2017 when we had elections there was a competition," said Sörling whose candidacy was endorsed by the Swedish Table Tennis Association (STTA).

"In the ITTF you can only run for one position and in our case in 2021 I was the only candidate running for Presidency.

"It shows that the membership didn’t want to have a race this time.

"There were originally 17 candidates for vice presidency so many wanted to be involved but they only wanted to have one candidate as President to be able to unify the family."

Sörling has made history by becoming the first woman to be elected as ITTF President and is only the third female leader of a Summer Olympic International Federation alongside World Triathlon’s Marisol Casado and the International Golf Federation’s Annika Sörenstam.

"I am both humbled and proud to be elected as the first-ever female President of the the ITTF but I am mainly excited to start work because we have had such a difficult period of time during the pandemic," said Sörling.

"To be here in Houston meeting many members and several of them taking part remotely, it feels like a perfect period of time to take on the position.

"If I can be a role model and open the door to several more [female leaders] that is the main importance of being the first one."

Sörling has served on the governing body’s Executive Committee since 2009, had three terms as executive vice-president of finance and was chair of the STTA for eight years.

As well as becoming the new head of the ITTF, she secured a position on the Swedish Olympic Committee and has a career in real estate as chief executive of Malmo-based Rosengård Fastighets.

Sörling said she looked to Hélène Barnekow, chief executive of Microsoft Sweden as an inspiration as she climbed the ladder in sports administration and hopes to be a role model for others.

"For me it was always the case where I was pretty much alone," said Sörling.

"I was elected into the ITTF in 2009 and I have been their only female vice-president so it is difficult to say that there were many role models for me within table tennis.

"I am also working in real estate and the chief excecutive of Microsoft Sweden is a role model for me because of the way she is tackling the leadership there."

Sörling also hailed the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations’ (ASOIF) Women Lead Sports masterclass.

The virtual meeting, staged in May, was created to help increase the number of women in leadership positions across the Olympic Movement.

Participants got the chance to acquire skills to influence, negotiate, communicate, navigate politics, manage stakeholders and lead in male-dominated environments.

"It was very helpful because as a female I identified that there are some areas where we are different," said Sörling.

"As a female, you like to know the job and the answers of the questions before you take on the tasks.

"I have seen many times that when it comes to my male colleagues that they are not always aware of the answer or even the questions to come before they say 'yes I can do it'.

"We have to push ourselves a little bit more as females to do things that we may not have all the answers for when we take on the position or the tasks.

"You will find out things by how you handle and deal with that.

"I hope that I can help others to be brave.

"It is not always the case where we are not asked as a female, it is a matter of taking the decisions yourself.

"What the ASOIF did with this course on women leaders was very good as it was concrete and that’s what we have to do.

"We have to go from awareness to change because it is one thing to be aware but it’s something else to change and move on."

Sörling’s manifesto is centred around four "strategic pillars", including uniting the ITTF by improving inclusion and discussions with continental bodies, strengthening governance and cementing ties with the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.

Creating new revenue streams and reforms to table tennis' event structure are among the plans to pursue Sörling's ambition for commercial growth, with increasing diversity and inclusion part of the drive for a sustainable future.

"I will lean on my experience and leadership skills to provide the best possible way forward for our federation in all aspects ranging from financial clarity, organisational dynamics, event model sustainability, decision making and staff operations," Sörling wrote in her manifesto.

"My leadership will reflect on how ITTF will be formed.

"The new ITTF will be known as a federation with dynamic governance and a willingness to change.

"I am confident enough to believe that I can make a difference for our sport by taking on the ITTF President position and lead our federation into the field of unity and prosperity."

Sörling believes she is also starting her reign as the new ITTF President on a good financial footing.

The ITTF posted its accounts in September which revealed a loss of just over $737,000 (£556,000/€650,000) for the year of 2020.

"During the pandemic we stayed financially healthy because we took very early and decisive decisions," said Sörling.

"We are okay compared with other sports.

"When it comes to our events, we were lucky to be able to host a restart series in China which was a very difficult thing during the pandemic with protocols in place, but we managed to do it.

"We have had a very successful Olympic Games behind us.

"We introduced the mixed doubles which was really exciting and good for diversity.

"Within the Olympic and Paralympic Movement we can further strengthen our relations.

"They are good today but as always you can improve and we are eager to learn how we can be better.

"I think the ITTF is no different from many other organisations.

"We struggled a lot during the pandemic because we couldn’t meet.

"All the online meetings are not very helpful if you have difficult questions on the table and more or less all the decisions taken during the pandemic were not good, it was only decisions that had to be made.

"To summarise my manifesto, I was putting a lot of efforts into unifying the ITTF family and to do that we have to work together.

"I also had three other pillars such as sustainability, good governance and business growth but first and foremost we have got to work together.

"When we restart after the pandemic we are not only competing among our self, we are competing with all sports to attract the spectators and players to come to our sport.

"The first thing we have got to do is work together.

"This was difficult during the last period of time but this is where my skills and my leadership will help out."