The year 2024 is coming to an end. The biggest tournament in terms of the number of participants (163) was this year's Czech Open 2024, which took place on April 20 in Prague. For the first time in many years, Riga Cup was second in this ranking (139).
The Latvians will have a chance to regain the top spot in 2025. Riga Cup 2025 will be held on December 6-7.

For the third time in a row, Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) won Riga Cup by defeating Oleksii Korabel (Ukraine) in the final.
On his way to the victory, Rainers Kalnins also defeated the reigning World Champion, Evgeniy Matantsev (Ukraine) in the round of 16 and after that Elvijs Silins (Latvia) and the reigning European Champion, Edgars Caics (Latvia).
Edgars Caics won the bronze medal match against Eddie Nilsson (Sweden). 139 players participated in Riga Cup 2024.

World Tour standings.

On November 23, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended. The following decisions were made on its results:

1. The first subparagraph of paragraph 12.2.2.1 of the ITHF Constitution now reads as follows:

The Delegates Conference elects 5 people to the Executive Committee: the President, the Secretary General and three EC Members.

2. The following information has been added to Tournament Rule 2.1:

In tournaments from the first to the third level in the World Ranking, the organizers must use the pucks included in the game “Stiga Play-off 21”.

3. The following paragraphs have been added to Section 11 of the Rules of the World and European Championships:

11.5 The final places in the tournament are determined as follows:

- if up to 21 players participated in the tournament, the places from ninth and below are determined according to the results of the games in the group. Players who lost in the 1/4 final take places from fifth to eighth. The higher places are taken by the players who were higher according to the results of the games in the group. Places from first to fourth are determined by the results of the final and the third place match.

- if between 22 and 42 players participated in the tournament, the places from ninth and below are determined by comparing the performance of players who took the same places in the base groups A and B. The following scores from games in the final divisions* shall be taken into account consecutively:

1) higher number of points

2) total goal difference (number of goals for minus number of goals against)

3) total number of goals

4) total number of wins.

If all four indicators are equal, an additional match is played.

*Note: in case of unequal number of players in the base groups A and B the last place in the tournament is taken by the player, who became the last in the group with more players. To determine the remaining places from the ninth to the penultimate, the places of the players are taken into account, taking into account the games with the player who became the last, but without taking into account the points scored in the games with this player.

Places from fifth to eighth are taken by players who lost in the 1/4 finals. The higher places are taken by the players who took higher places according to the results of the games in the base groups, taking into account the above four indicators.

Places from first to fourth are determined by the results of the final and the third place match.

- if between 43 and 72 players participated in the tournament, the places from twenty-fifth and below are determined by the results of games in divisions 2, 3, etc. Of the players who lost in the semifinal play-offs in these divisions, the higher ranked player is the one who was ranked higher by the results of the games in that division.

Places from ninth to twenty-fourth are determined by comparing the performance of players who finished in the same position in the final divisions 1A and 1B. The following scores from games in the final divisions shall be taken into account consecutively:

1) higher number of points

2) total goal difference (number of goals for minus number of goals against)

3) total number of goals

4) total number of wins.

If all four indicators are equal, an additional match is played.

Places from fifth to eighth are taken by players who lost in the 1/4 finals. The higher places are taken by the players who took higher places according to the results of the games in the final divisions, taking into account the above four indicators.

Places from first to fourth are determined by the results of the final and the third place match.

- if more than 72 players participated in the tournament, the places from sixty-fifth and below are determined by the results of games in divisions 2, 3, etc. Of the players who lost in the semifinal play-offs in these divisions, the higher ranked player is the one who was ranked higher by the results of the games in that division.

Places thirty-third through sixty-fourth shall be determined by comparing the performance of players who finished in the same place in the final divisions 1A and 1B. The following scores from games in the final divisions shall be taken into account consecutively:

1) higher number of points,

2) overall goal difference (number of goals for minus number of goals against),

3) overall number of goals,

4) overall number of wins.

If all four indicators are equal, an additional match is played.

Places from seventeenth to thirty-second are taken by the players who lost in the 1/16 finals. Places from ninth to sixteenth are taken by the players who lost in the 1/8 finals. Places from fifth to eighth are taken by players who lost in the 1/4 finals. At the same time, at each stage of the play-offs the higher places are taken by the players who took higher places according to the results of the games in the final divisions, taking into account the above four indicators.

Places from first to fourth are determined by the results of the final and the third place match. 11.6 At the World and European Championships, participants in tournaments in all team categories are players included in the final composition submitted by the ITHF before the start of the tournament.

4. The tournament information in the World Rankings will be aligned with the information about players declared in team tournaments at the World and European Championships.

These decisions are effective November 25, 2024.

After 2023, another Latvian player, Gints Lasmanis, wins the probably last Swiss Open in Zollikofen on October 19th 2024. It is Gints first triumph on the World Tour. He won the final series against Mykhaylo Shalomayev from Ukraine 4:2. The podium was completed by Martin Madera from the Czech Republic, who beat Glib Storozhenko from the Ukraine 3:0 in the Bronze Medal game.

Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) won the first Super Series tournament of the season after managing to defeat Evgeny Matantsev (Ukraine) in a tight 7-game final of Slovenia Open 2024. Patrik Petr (Czechia) edged out Valts Smagars (Latvia) to claim the bronze medal. 71 players from 11 countries participated in the tournament, by far the most in tournament's history.

83 players from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden competed for the title of Incukalns THC Challenge 2024. The main trophy was won by Rainers Kalnins from Incukalns THC. Andris Liepins from BJC Laimite placed second and has made his comeback clear to everyone. Valts Smagars placed third beating Kristaps Naglis for the 3rd place matchup.

Hans Österman(Sweden) won the WTHT tournament Narke Table Hockey Cup in Orebro, Sweden.
Österman defeated Oscar Henriksson(Sweden) 4-2 in the final series.
Eddie Nilsson (Sweden) came third by winning the bronze series against Olof Blume (Sweden).
62 player from 6 different countries participated in the tournament.

15 players participated in the Centennial Challenge Cup XX TH tournament played on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at Rosario's Pub in Edmonton. Reggie Stefaniszyn defeated Kent Richter in final, Dwayne Pankiw was third.

Norway Open 2024 has concluded with a total of 32 participants from 4 different countries. Rainers Kalnins (LAT) won the tournament after an overtime win in the 7th match against Eddie Nilsson (SWE). Edžus Kaneps (LAT) took the third place.

Roman Nezhyba (CZE) defeated Joakim Astrom (SWE) 4-2 to win the Stiga Chicago Open tournament. Paul Shabi (USA) was third over Ruslan Kobchuk (UKR).

Interview with Edgars Caics.

Latvian Table Hockey Federation once again organised a great event with European Championships 2024 in Valmiera.
Edgars Caics won his third European Championship in the Open individual category (2016, 2022, 2024) by defeating Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) in the final.
Anton Umanskyy (Ukraine) won the bronze medal.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS:
Open: Edgars Caics (Latvia)
Open Team: Ukraine
Ladies Team: Latvia
Veterans Team: Sweden
Juniors Team: Latvia
Ladies: Hanna Ivantsova (Ukraine)
Veterans: Peter Östlund (Sweden)
Juniors: Artem Matantsev (Ukraine)
U13: Roberts Verbics (Latvia)
V55: Igor Saveljev (Estonia)

The ITHF World Tour of the 2023/24 season has ended. For the first time in history, the winner was Evgeniy Matantsev from Ukraine. The second was Raivis Miglinieks (Latvia), the third - Martin Madera (Czech Republic).
Final table of the World Tour season 2023/24.

In accordance with the Rules of the World and European championships, the following players qualified for the 2024 European Championship.

On May 4, 2024, the last stage of the World Tour this season took place in the German city of Lahr (Schwarzwald). German Open 2024 gathered 37 participants from 9 countries. The winner of the German Open 2022 and the finalist of last year's tournament, Hanna Ivantsova, became first in the group stage, but lost in the 1/4 finals to Martin Madera. In the final, the World champion and the World ranking leader, Ukrainian Evgeniy Matantsev, defeated Gints Lasmanis from Skrunda (Latvia) in four games. In the match for third place, Czech Patrik Petr beat his compatriot Martin Madera.
Next year the German Open will be held in Hagen for the first time.

Incukalns THC from Latvia won the World Club Championship 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic by defeating BJC Laimite (also Latvia) in the final.
THC Nertus came third.
26 teams participated in the tournament.

Saturday, Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) won Czech Open 2024 with a victory in the final against the reigning World Champion, Evgeniy Matantsev (Ukraine).
Raivis Miglinieks (Latvia) won the bronze medal match.
163 players from 12 countries took part in this tournament belonging to the ITHF WTHT Super Series.

Evgeniy Matantsev (UKR) won the 12th edition of Tallinn Cap on April 6. He defeated Kevin Eriksson (FIN) in the final. Eddie Nilsson (SWE) won the bronze match against Raivis Miglinieks (LAT).
117 players from 11 countries participated. This is a new record for tournaments in Estonia.

Ruslan Kobchuk (UKR) defeated Paul Shabi (USA) 4-2 in the finals of the Detroit Stiga Championship on March 23. Kobchuk is staying in New York after his native Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Roman Nezhyba (CZE) was third over Bruce Turner (CAN).

Evgeniy Matantsev (Ukraine) won the 2024 edition of Slovakia Open in Nove Zamky in a convincing manner.
Michal Kobrle (CZE) captured the silver medal.
Gints Lasmanis (LAT) placed third by defeating Patrik Petr (CZE) in the bronze match.

62 players from 10 countries participated.

Evgeniy Matantsev (UKR) won the 40th edition of Swedish Masters in Stockholm on February 10th. He defeated Olof Blume (SWE) in the final while Raivis Miglinieks (LAT) captured the bronze.

125 players from 12 countries participated

The ITHF Executive Committee prepared a draft calendar of the WTHT ITHF for the 2024/25 season and sent it for approval to the organizers and national federations. The first tournament of the ITHF Super Series will be held in the capital of Latvia. Riga Cup 2024 will be held November 30 - December 1.

On January 13, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended.

Proposed change of the ITHF Tournaments Rules:

1. Paragraph 2.6 iii) of the Tournament Rules shall be stated in a new edition:
iii) When establishing a completely new club, only players from three clubs (however top 50-players or former top-10 players from a maximum of two clubs) can change to this club in the same transfer window.
2. Paragraph 2.6 iv) of the Tournament Rules shall be stated in a new edition:
iv) In the same transfer window, players from a maximum of three clubs can change to the same club, however top-50 and former top-10 players from a maximum of two clubs.
3. Add Tournament Rule 2.6 with paragraph vi):
vi) New clubs should be registered with club name and name of players not later than the last day of the transfer window before the World Club Championship.

are accepted and come into force on January 15, 2024.

On December 16, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended.

Rules of the World and European Championships and proposed change of the ITHF Tournaments Rules:

1. paragraph 2.3.1 will be deleted
2. paragraph 2.5 will be worded as follows:
"2.5 International championships
The procedure for holding the World and European Championships is regulated by the Rules of the World and European Championships."

are accepted and come into force on January 1, 2024.

In a tough seven game series, Rainers Kalnins defeated Ukranian Oleksii Korabel making a comeback from 1-3 deficit in the finals and winning the Riga Cup for the second time in a row. Jan Pelkonen, after not playing actively for more than 5 years, placed 3rd defeating his friend Kevin Eriksson with a convincing score of 3-0. A worthy mention - Edzus Kaneps placed 6th defeated the current World Champion Evgeniy Matantsev in the 1/8 finals showing great performance in day 2 of the tournament. This year Riga Cup hosted 159 players from 10 different nations.

P.S. One of the best to ever do it - Edgars Caics presented his book "Go for greatness" before the tournaments opening ceremony. A book about his autobiography and table hockey. A great read!

Paul Shabi of Fraser, MI (USA) defeated Bernie Kunzler of Kitchener, ONT (CAN) to win the Table Hockey Kitchener tournament on Saturday, Nov. 18. Bruce Turner (CAN), the tournament organizer, was third. The event had 24 players.

Swiss Open 2023 was held in Zollikofen on October 28th. 25 players from 7 countries participated in the tournament. Raivis Miglinieks defeated last year's winner Patrik Petr (Czech Republic) 4-0 in the final series. Michal Kobrle (Czech Republic) came in third, the same as a year ago.

On October 21, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended.

The World Club Championship - 2024 will be held in Prague (Czech Republic).

Andrejs Kuznecovs (Latvia) is the winner of Slovenia Open 2023 after beating his countrymen Gints Lasmanis with 4-2 in the final. The local player Anže Božič took the last podium spot by beating another Slovenian Jakob Zalokar Obadič in the bronze medal match.

For second consecutive year, Raivis Miglinieks (Latvia) won the WTHT tournament Narke Table Hockey Cup in Orebro, Sweden.
Raivis defeated Hans Osterman (Sweden) 4-1 in the final series.
Eddie Nilsson (Sweden) came third by winning the bronze series against Olof Blume (Sweden).
64 player from 4 different countries participated in the tournament.

Norway Open 2023 was organized in Kvernaland the 16th of September. 25 players participated in the tournament, which included 7 players from Latvia. Edgars Naglis played a very good tournament, and ended up defeating last year's winner Magnus Klippen in the final. Another Latvian super talent, Lukass Jurka, won the bronze medal, after defeating Vegard Klippen 3-1 in the bronze match.

10 players participated in the Centennial Challenge Cup XIX played on Saturday, September 9, 2023 at Rosario's Pub in Edmonton, Canada. The tournament was won by Kevin Rafferty (USA) with Reggie Stefaniszyn (Canada) and Kent Richter (Canada) finishing 2nd and 3rd.

On August 19, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended.
1. Sanctions against players from Russia and Belarus were kept as they are now.

2. In the paragraph 2.5 viii) of the Tournaments Rules, in the sentence "The minimum number of women's team members is three and the maximum is five" the words "three" should be replaced by the word "two".

3. In the paragraph 2.5 viii) of the Tournaments Rules, in the sentence "The minimum number of veteran team members is three and the maximum is five" the words "three" should be replaced by the word "two".

4. In the paragraph 2.5 viii) of the Tournaments Rules, in the sentence "The minimum number of junior team members is three and the maximum is five" the words "three" should be replaced by the word "two".

5. Paragraph 2.5 v) of the Tournament Rules stated as follows: “v) Defending champions in each category can participate (the only exception is the juniors and the kids categories, where the defending champion can participate only if he/she fulfils the age requirement). All former champions in the Open category can participate in the Open category“.

6. Paragraph 6.1. of the Game Rules stated as follows: “6.1. A goal is scored when the puck was directed between the goal posts in front of and below the crossbar, completely crossed the red line drawn from one goal post to the other, and did not fly back out of the goal, crossing this red line or remaining on it”.

7. The European Championship - 2024 will be held in Valmiera (Latvia).

Paul Shabi (USA) defeated Roman Nezhyba (CZE) 4-0 in the finals of the Stiga Chicago Open. It was the third time Shabi has won this tournament. Kevin Rafferty (USA) defeated Eric Krol (USA) for the third-place medal.

On July 2, the Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference of ITHF ended.

Gergely Regula is elected Chair of the Legal Committee of ITHF for a period of up to the end of the season 2024/2025.

The new World Champion of the open individual competition in table hockey is Evgeniy Matantsev from Ukraine. He defeated Rainers Kalninš (Latvia) in the final of the World Championships 2023 in Bryne, Norway.

In the previous rounds of play off, Evgeniy Matantsev won against the bronze winner Oscar Henriksson (Sweden) in the semifinal, the former World Champion Edgars Caics (Latvia) in the quarterfinal, Alvis Silins (Latvia) in the Round of 16 and Joakim Lundin (Sweden) in the Round of 32.

Congratulations to all the winners of medals and a big thank you to the organizers from Norway for a magnificent event.

Bjarne Axelsen
The Executive Committee of ITHF

On the second day of the ITHF World Championships 2023 in Bryne (Norway), the world champions in open team competition, kids and superveteran were found.

Latvia won the final of the open team competition by beating Ukraine.
Finland won the bronze match 12-11 against Sweden after a captains game, where Kevin Eriksson (Finland) defeated Oscar Henriksson (Sweden) with 3-1.

Reiners Neija (Latvia) won the kids category with a victory in the final against Henrijs Prokuratovs (Latvia) with 3-2.

Igor Saveljev (Estonia) became the new World Champion of the superveteran category by defeating Yngve Aasheim (Norway) with 3-2 in a thrilling final after sudden victory in game 5.
Sunday, there will be final divisions and play off in the open individual competition.

On the first day of the ITHF World Championships 2023 in Bryne (Norway), the winners were found in six categories. Evgeniy Matantsev (Ukraine) won juniors individual.
Krista Annija Lagzdina (Latvia) won ladies individual.
Hans Österman (Sweden) won veterans individual.

Moreover, the team competitions in juniors, ladies and veterans were played.
Latvia took the title among juniors in a thrilling final against Ukraine, Ukraine defeated Latvia in the ladies team competition and Sweden won against Norway in the veterans team final.

Detailed results can be found in Scorpion Table Hockey or through the tournament webpage.

On May 27, the ITHF delegates' conference ended, following which the following decisions were made:

1. For a new term until the end of the 2024/25 season, the ITHF Executive Committee was re-elected consisting of:
- Bjarne Axelsen is a President of ITHF;
- Mykhaylo Shalomayev is a ITHF Secretary General;
- Kevin Rafferty is a ITHF Continental Manager for North America;
- Igor Saveljev is a Member of the Executive Committee of ITHF;
- Gustaf Hermansson is a Member of the Executive Committee of ITHF.
Michael Toft Nielsen, Rolf Locher and Gergely Regula are elected members of the ITHF Legal Committee. The Chair of this committee will be chosen at the next vote.

2. On July 1, 2023 in the paragraph 2.5 iv) of the Tournaments Rules, will delete the following words: "Up to 3 players from each nation can directly qualify in this way" and "Up to 1 player from each nation can directly qualify in this way in each of these 5 categories".

3. The World Championship 2025 will be held in Umea (Sweden). Table hockey is coming home.

The ITHF World Tour of the 2022/23 season has ended. For the first time in history, the winner was Rainers Kalnins from Latvia. The second was Patrik Petr, the third - Michal Kobrle (both from the Czech Republic).

Final table of the World Tour season 2022/23.

In accordance with the Tournaments Rules, the following players qualified for the 2023 World Championship.

Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) won German Open 2023 in Lahr, Schwarzwald.
In the final, he defeated last year's champion Hanna Ivantsova (Ukraine).
Gints Lasmanis (Latvia) won the bronze game against Anze Bozic (Slovenia).
39 players from 9 countries participated in this season's last tournament on the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour.

World Tour standings.

Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) succeeded winning Czech Open 2023 in Prague by defeating Patrik Petr (Czech Republic) in the final. Hugo Lönnqvist (Sweden) came third with a victory in the bronze match against Martin Madera (Czech Republic).
92 players participated in the tournament, which was a part of the ITHF WTHT Super Series.

Evgeniy Matantsev from Ukraine won a tournament in the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour for the third time but the first WTHT Super Series.

Tallinn Cup 2023 was held in the capital of Estonia, where 112 players from 9 countries participated.
Matantsev won the final series 4-3 against Oscar Henriksson (Sweden).
Kevin Eriksson (Finland) won the bronze match against Dmytro Marmaliuk (Ukraine).

Yevgen Levdansky (UKR) defeated the reigning five-time Stiga Detroit Champion, Roman Nezhyba (CZE), in the Final. Paul Shabi (USA) won the bronze match against Ruslan Kobchuk (UKR). Twenty-seven players from four countries participated.

The next ITHF World Tour event in North America is July 22 for the Stiga Chicago Open.

It was double Czech in the final of Slovakia Open when Patrik Petr defeated Michal Kobrle.

Truls Mansson from Sweden won the bronze game over another Czech player, Krystof Herold.

This was the first Slovakian Open after the Covid 19 pandemic.
56 players from 9 countries participated.

In Swedish Masters 40 year history, only one Latvian player has so far managed to win: Edgars Caics in 2014.

But this year Edgars was once again victorious by defeating Hans Osterman (SWE) in the final. Rainers Kalnins (LAT) won the bronze game over Magnus Klippen (NOR).

139 players from 15 countries participated.

Roman Nezhyba (CZE) won the Stanley Cup of Table Hockey in Southern California at the United States Stiga Shootout with a 4-1 victory in the Final against Kevin Rafferty (USA). Ryan Woodall (USA) won the bronze match against Eric Krol (USA). All-time, Nezhyba is now tied with Reggie Stefaniszyn (CAN), each with five Stanley Cup wins at the annual SoCal tournament established in 2006.

The ITHF Executive Committee prepared a draft calendar of the WTHT ITHF for the 2023/24 season and sent it for approval to the organizers and national federations. The first tournament of the ITHF Super Series will be held in the capital of Latvia. Riga Cup 2023 will be held December 2-3.

Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) won the 22nd edition of Riga Cup after a tight seven game final against Evgeniy Matantsev (Ukraine). Dmytro Marmaliuk (Ukraine) won the bronze match against Atis Silis (Latvia). 139 players from 11 countries participated.

Tournament organizers and best friends played each other in the Final of the first-ever ITHF World Tour Event held in Kitchener, Ontario in suburban Toronto. Bernie Kunzler defeated Bruce Turner, 4 games to 2 to win the championship. Kent Richter (CAN) finished third over Eric Krol (USA).

Mykhaylo Shalomayev (Ukraine) is the winner of Slovenia Open 2022 after beating Kryštof Herold (Czechia) with 4-0 in the final. The local player Anže Božič took the last podium spot by beating Gustaf Hermansson (Sweden) in bronze medal match. This was Mykhaylo's second victory in Slovenia Open after already coming on top in 2017.

In a very convincing manner, Patrik Petr (Czech Republic) won Swiss Open 2022 in Bern by defeating Martin Madera (Czech Republic) in the final. Michal Kobrle completed the Czech Republic podium by winning the bronze match against Andrejs Kuznecovs (Latvia).

Raivis Miglinieks (Latvia) won WTHT tournament Narke Table Hockey Cup 2022 by defeating Oscar Henriksson(Sweden) 4-0 in the final. Hans Osterman (Sweden) came third by winning the bronze match against Joakim Lundin (Sweden). The tournament was held in Orebro, Sweden with 62 participants. Players from 5 countries participated in the tournament.

This was the first time since 2019 the tournament was organized due to the coronavirus. Magnus beat his brother Vegard in the final, while Darja Hrustaljova from Estonia managed to prevent that the Klippens also won the bronze, by beating Oystein Klippen in the match for 3rd place. 29 players from five different nations participated, and got a taste of the playing venue for the wch 2023 in Bryne.

Dwayne Pankiw (CAN) defeated Kent Richter (CAN) 4 games to 2 at the West Edmonton Mall on Saturday, Sept. 10 to win the Centennial Challenge Cup tournament. This year, the event had the Stiga North American Championship designation. Reggie Stefaniszyn (CAN) was third.

Back-to-back championships, and now three time overall winner in Chicago, Roman Nezhyba (CZE) won the first World Tour event of the season with a 4-1 win over Paul Shabi (USA) in the Final. Kevin Rafferty (USA) finished third.

Edgars Caics (Latvia) won the European Championships 2022 in Kranj, Slovenia by defeating Oscar Henriksson (Sweden) in the final. Latvia won the European Championships for Teams.
Hanna Ivantsova (Ukraine) is the new European Champion in Ladies category.
More results to be found in the webpage th.sportsscorpion.com, where detailed results from all categories can be seen.

The ITHF World Tour of the 2021/22 season has ended. For the first time in history, the winner was Anze Bozic from Slovenia. The second was the Ukrainian Mykola Verbytskyy, the third - the German Valentin Dietze.

Final table of the World Tour season 2021/22.

In accordance with the Tournaments Rules, the following players qualified for the 2022 European Championship.

Hanna Ivantsova (Ukraine) won German Open 2022 by defeating Petrus Miettinen (Finland) 4-3 in the final. Martin Madera (Czech Republic) came third by winning the bronze match against Pavel Plešak (Czech Republic). 39 players participated in the tournament.
With the victory, Hanna Ivantsova became the first female player to win a tournament in the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour.

World Tour standings.

Raivis Miglinieks (Latvia) won Czech Open 2022 in Prague by defeating Patrik Petr (Czech Republic) in the final with 4-1. Zdenek Matousek (Czech Republic) came third by winning the bronze match against Jan Sládek (Czech Republic).
Players from 10 countries participated in the tournament.

Rainers Kalnins (Latvia) defeated Sandis Kristaps Lagzdins (Latvia) in the final of Tallinn Cup 2022, which was an ITHF World Table Hockey Tour Super Series.
Oscar Henriksson (Sweden) came third.

Roman Nezhyba (Czech Republic) won the Detroit Stiga Championship 2022 by defeating Kevin Rafferty (USA) in the Final. Paul Shabi (USA) finished third.
This was Nezhyba’s fifth championship in Detroit: 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 (2020 and 2021 were not played due to COVID). The only time Nezhyba has not won in Detroit was 2015, when he lost in the Final to Karl Jonsson (Sweden).
A very special sportsmanship award was presented at the end of the tournament, in memory of fellow table hockey player, Dave Wright (ranked #17 in the USA), who passed away last month, in a touching tribute by fellow Hookstown, PA, lifelong buddies Mike Hubbard and Dean Moore.

After a thrilling final, Oscar Henriksson (Sweden) won Swedish Masters 2022 in Stockholm by defeating Sandis Kristaps Lagzdins (Latvia) in the final with 4-3.
Kevin Eriksson (Finland) won the bronze medal through a victory against Patrik Petr (Czech Republic).
88 players from 11 different countries participated in the tournament.

The Extraordinary Delegates Conference is over.
The member federations decided by majority to not allow players from Russia and Belarus to participate in World Table Hockey Tour and international championships because of the situation in Ukraine.
These sanctions are activated until the Executive Committee of ITHF decides to lift them.

The Executive Committee of ITHF has decided to remove Kursk Cup 2022 from the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour because of the present situation in Ukraine.

The Executive Committee of ITHF has decided to ask the national member federations, whether the political situation with the attack on Ukraine should have consequences for players representing Russia and Belarus.
The agenda has been sent to the member federations by mail.
The Extraordinary Delegates Conference will take place from March 19-22, 2022.

The consequences of the present political situation is, that it is impossible for players from a majority of the member federations to participate in Moscow Open 2022.

Therefore, this tournament does no longer serve as a World Tour and the Executive Committee of ITHF has decided to remove it from the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour.

Kirill Storchak (Russia) won Belarus Open 2022 by defeating Aliaksandr Dalgou (Belarus) in the final. Aliaksandr Bartosh (Belarus) came third.
18 players participated in the tournament in Minsk.

Roman Nezhyba (Czech Republic) won the Stiga North American Championships tournament in Southern California. He defeated Mykola "Nikolai" Verbytskyy (Ukraine) 4-0 in the Final. Each game was decided by just one goal (1-0, 3-2, 4-3 OT, 2-1).

Because of the present guidelines from the national authorities in Sweden, it is not possible for SBHF to organize Swedish Masters 2022 on the scheduled date.

The organizers has asked for permission to organize Swedish Masters 2022 on March 26, 2022.

This is the same date as Detroit Stiga Championships.
Because of the special circumstances, the Executive Committee of ITHF has allowed this.

Therefore, Swedish Masters 2022 is now scheduled to take place March 26, 2022 in Stockholm.

Tallinn Cup 2022 will be moved to April 9, 2022 because of unexpected challenges with the tournament venue. National federations, which have planned national ranking tournaments on the date April 9, 2022, are not expected to move these tournaments to another date and the level will still be the same in the ITHF World Ranking.

The ITHF Extraordinary Delegates Conference ended Tuesday the 30th of November 2021. All changes come into force next day after publication of results of vote on ITHF website. Minutes can be found in the menu under ORGANIZATION called Minutes from the ITHF Extraordinary Delegates Conference 32 (November 2021).

Decisions that have been taken:

1. The World Championship 2023 will be held in Norway.

2. Tournament Rule 2.3.1 is set out in a new edition. In the open competition of World Championships and European Championships, 64 players are promoted to the final divisions, which are played as two final divisions with 32 players in each of these divisions. Now from each final division with 32 players, the 16 best players are promoted to the play-offs (best-of-7).

3. Tournament Rule 2.6 was supplemented with subparagraph v):
v) Players ranked outside top-250 not registered for a club in the ITHF World Ranking can register for a club the entire season. Players in top-250 in the ITHF World Ranking can only register for a club in the two annual transfer windows.

4. Subparagraph (g) of paragraph 4.1 iv) of the Tournaments Rules was reworded as follows:
g) After the captain of the guest team has given a completed team sheet to the captain of the home (opponent) team, the guest team cannot substitute its players until after the next 5-minute match.

5. First sentence of paragraph 6.4 of Game Rules was reworded as follows:
6.4. A goal scored by first stabilizing the puck, then hitting it with the body (not the stick) of a figure does not count unless the puck touches a sideboard, left winger or right winger of either player on its way into the goal.

Denis Matveev (Russia) won Saint Petersburg Open 2021 by defeating Oleg Ortinov (Russia) in the final. Pavel Fedorov came third.
64 players participated in the tournament.

From November 26 to November 30, 2021 a Extraordinary Delegates Conference of ITHF will be held. An Agenda of the Conference.

LGHF has decided to cancel Riga Cup 2021.
The reason is, that it is impossible to organize the tournament with the present restrictions from the national authorities.

36 players from 8 countries participated in Slovenia Open 2021. In an exciting final against Rolands Riekstins (LAT) Dmytro Marmaliuk (UKR) overcame a 1-3 deficit to win the second World Tour tournament in a row.
Patrik Petr (CZE) won a bronze medal match against the best local player, Rok Škrlep.

In World Club Championships 2021, the Russian team Legion-NiKi won their first title.
THC Stiga Elites from Czech Republic took the silver medal, while the home team NHK Kranj finished in third place.

38 players from Ukraine, Lithuania and Israel took part in the tournament. All three medals remained in Ukraine. As in the Ukraine Cup 2019, the tournament was won by Dmytro Marmaliuk, Oleksii Korabel got the silver and Roman Ignatenko the bronze medal.

The Swiss Table Hockey Federation has informed ITHF, that Swiss Open 2021 is cancelled. ITHF has received the statement below: "The still missing planning reliability because of Covid 19 lead STHV to the decision to keep the tablehockey lockdown in Switzerland until at least the end of 2021. This means that Swiss Open 2021 is cancelled. We hope to play again with less restrictions in 2022."

Estonia organized the 2021 ITHF World Championships in Tallinn. Yanis Galuzo (Russia) won the open individual competition by defeating Nikita Zholobov (Russia) in the final. In a very exciting final, Latvia won their first World Championships in the open team competition with a victory against Ukraine. All the other results and placements can be seen by visiting Scorpion.

The Executive Committee of ITHF wants to express the deepest appreciation to Team Saveljev from Estonia for having the will, energy and dedication to organize this big event in challenging times.

Organizers interested in being the host of the 2023 ITHF World Championships are invited to contact ITHF through mail to president@ithf.info or by contacting Bjarne Axelsen through Messenger.

Roman Nezhyba (CZE) defeated Ryan Woodall (USA) 4-1 in the finals of the Stiga Chicago Open tournament. Taking third was Paul Shabi (USA) over tournament organizer Eric Krol (USA). It feels good to be playing table hockey again and we hope to see you on the tour this year and next year.

The ITHF Delegates Conference ended Monday the 24th of May 2021.
All changes come into force next day after publication of results of vote on ITHF website.
Minutes can be found in the menu under ORGANIZATION called Minutes from the ITHF Delegates Conference 31 (May 2021).

Decisions that have been taken:
1. The first subparagraph of paragraph 12.2.2.1 of the ITHF Constitution as follows:
The Delegates Conference elects 5 people to the Executive Committee: the President, the Secretary General, the Continental Manager for North America and two EC Members.

2. The last subparagraph of paragraph 12.2.2.1 of the ITHF Constitution as follows:
This draw will take place to the next international championship or next WTHT Super Series.

3.Tournament Rule 2.5 iv) was supplemented with the following paragraph:
Players in top-25 in the open category in the ITHF World Ranking at May, 1 are automatically qualified for the annual international championship (World Championships, European Championships) in the open category without having to qualify through a national or international qualification tournament.

4. In paragraphs 2.5 ii) and 2.5 iii) of the Tournament Rule, was replaced "Kids category 5 (5)" with "Kids category 10 (15)".

5. The paragraph 7.1 of the Game Rule was reworded as follows:
7.1. If the puck is stopped on the goal line, the defending player may call "block" and a new face-off is made.

6. Was increased the quota of the organizers of the WCh-2021 in the category "Open" by 4 people.

7. For a period of up to the end of the season 2022/2023:
- Bjarne Axelsen is elected President of ITHF;
- Mykhaylo Shalomayev is elected ITHF Secretary General;
- Kevin Rafferty is elected ITHF Continental Manager for North America;
- Igor Saveljev is elected Member of the Executive Committee of ITHF;
- Gustaf Hermansson is elected Member of the Executive Committee of ITHF;
- Gergely Regula is elected Chair of the Legal Committee of ITHF;
- Intars Žubeckis is elected Member of the Legal Committee of ITHF;
- Rolf Locher is elected Member of the Legal Committee of ITHF.

The Executive Committee of ITHF has decided that the 2021 ITHF World Championships will take place August 13-15, 2021 in Tallinn.
Due to Covid-19, the organizers from Estonia wanted to re-schedule the tournament to August.
The Executive Committee of ITHF decided to approve this request.

Participants in the World Championship - 2021 according to the results of the World Ranking as of May 1, 2021.

From May 16 to May 24, 2021 a Delegates Conference of ITHF will be held. An Agenda of the Conference.

The Extraordinary Delegates Conference of ITHF ended Sunday the 31st of January 2021. All changes come into force next day after publication of results of vote on ITHF website. Minutes can be found in the menu under ORGANIZATION called Minutes from the ITHF Extraordinary Delegate's Conference 30 (January 2021).

There’s a new name to engrave on the Stanley Cup of Table Hockey. Arseniy Stolyarov (Russia), ranked #4 in the world -- and the sport of table hockey -- beat COVID at the United States Stiga Shootout in Laguna Hills, California, on January 30, 2021. Paul Shabi (USA) was the runner-up. Roman Nezhyba (Czech Republic) took third place with a victory in the bronze medal match against Kevin Rafferty (USA).

A majority of the national member federations of ITHF (15-1) decided in the Extraordinary Delegates Conference of ITHF to cancel the ITHF World Table Hockey Tour 2020 2021.
It is still the ambition to organize the 2021 ITHF World Championships in June in Tallinn, Estonia.
The national federations will receive updated information from Team Tallinn 2021 in the coming months.
ITHF expects national federations to inform players.
Moreover, it is recommended to keep you updated through the facebook page ITHF World Table Hockey.

The Executive Committee of ITHF is calling for an Extraordinary Delegates Conference of ITHF to begin January 22, 2021. If it ends up with a YES to cancel the overall ITHF World Table Hockey Tour 2020 2021, we will continue with the 2nd round in order to find new ways to determine the international qualification to the 2021 ITHF World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
The Agenda of a Conference.
For questions, ITHF can be contacted through mail to president@ithf.info or through Messenger to Bjarne Axelsen.