2002 WAS THE YEAR OF THE 1ST GARLANDO WORLD TABLE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP OBERWART, 12-18 AUGUST 2002 The finals of the first GARLANDO WORLD TABLE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP was held in the quiet resort of Oberwart, a small town not far from Graz, in Austria, in the past August, after the preliminary competitions had gone on for some months and only the best were selected. Born from the initiative of a table football fan and an enthusiastic player himself, Mr. Gaal, a Hungarian living in Austria and a President of a table football club, the competition saw the large-scale partecipation of more than 1000 players coming from all the world. The most enthusiastic and largest delegations were from Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada. Open to both men and women and including various categories (singles, doubles, mixed, 20 & under, etc) the tournament provided a prize money amounting to 25.000 Euros. The tournament wa fully played upon Garlando tables, and required the planning and manufacturing of a new model made for the purpose.