ITHF table hockey

Table hockey is a sport played on table hockey games. The origin of the sport was the Swedish Championship 1982 in Upplands Väsby. Organized table hockey is played in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, in North America and in Japan.

The World Championship is organized by the [http://www.ithf.info International Table Hockey Federation] every two years. The Stiga Play Off game is the official game of the Table Hockey World Championship.

Sweden has dominated the table hockey scene from the beginning and a couple of years into the new millennium. Until the Finnish gold in Riga 2005, Sweden had won all Team World Championships, until 2006 only Swedes had won the Open Swedish Masters, and until 2007 all individual world champions were Swedes. But the new generation comes from Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Latvia, and its current big star is 17 years old Roni Nuttunen from Finland who in the past season won all major tournaments he participated in, including the two greatest: Swedish Masters and the world championships.

Since the sport expands quickly in many countries, the table hockey map may have to be redrawn within a couple of years when nations other than the big six (Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Norway and Latvia) produce new talents.

World Championship History

World Table Hockey Tour

For the season 2003-2004 six of the biggest tournaments formed a league called Euroleague. The tournaments were Helsinki Open, Oslo Open, Riga Cup, SM (Huskvarna), Moscow Open and Czech Open (Plzen).

The following season Boston Challenge was also included. The other tournaments remained, but SM was played in Stockholm and Czech Open in Pribram.

For the season 2005-2006 the league changed name to World Table Hockey Tour, and was expanded to 13 tournaments. The new ones were Öresund Cup (Elsinore), Gatineau Challenge, Stiga Las Vegas, Budapest Open, Bratislava Open and Berlin Open. In the original six tournaments, the players were awarded higher points than in the other. SM was played in Eskilstuna and Czech Open in Prague.

ee also

*Table hockey games
*Air hockey
*An equivalent for soccer football is Table football (or "foosball").

External links

Federations

* [http://www.ithf.info/ International Table Hockey Federation]
* [http://www.ctha.ca/ Canadian Table Hockey Association] flagicon|Canada
* [http://dbhu.bordhockey.dk/ Danish Tablehockey Union] flagicon|Denmark
* [http://www.boardhockey.ee/ Estonian Table Hockey Union] flagicon|Estonia
* [http://www.poytajaakiekko.net/ Finnish Table Hockey Association] flagicon|Finland
* [http://www.asztalihoki.hu/lista.htm Hungarian Table Hockey Federation] flagicon|Hungary
* [http://www.galdahokejs.lv/ Latvian Table Hockey Federation] flagicon|Latvia
* [http://www.puck.no Norwegian Table Hockey Association] flagicon|Norway
* [http://www.boardhockey.ru/ Russian Table Hockey Federation] flagicon|Russia
* [http://nhzs.madpage.com/ Slovenian Table Hockey] flagicon|Slovenia
* [http://www.bordshockey.net/ Swedish Table Hockey Association] flagicon|Sweden
* [http://www.ustha.com/ United States Table Hockey Association] flagicon|USA

Others

* [http://worldcup07.boardhockey.ru/eng/index.shtml/ Web site of the 2007 World Championships in Moscow]
* [http://www.bordhockey.dk/ Lots of information about Danish tablehockey and Fremad Eagles]
* [http://www.nhkkranj.page.tl/ Web site about Slovenian tablehockey club NHK Kranj]
* [http://www.nhklub-menges.si/ Web site about Slovenian tablehockey club NHK Menges]
* [http://www.tablehockeyheaven.com/ Table Hockey Heaven]
* [http://www.TableHockeyPro.com/ Your #1 Source for Table Hockey Products - TableHockeyPro.com]