100 Years Of Fives At Zuoz
25/06/24: In a year of Fives centenaries, one of the most memorable is the 100th anniversary of the building of the first Fives courts at the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz.
The weekend of the 15th/16th June saw a special centenary edition of the Engadin Challenge tournament take place on the six courts at the school, with over 60 players - students at the school, Old Zuozers and British visitors - taking part.
Organiser Renato Büchi had put together an ingenious format to cope with the sheer number of players taking part - effectively a ladder style tournament on the Saturday to sort out the top 24 players for Sunday's Engadin Challenge Cup and the next 24 players for the Queen's Cup. The courts were in full use all day, with the players undeterred by the drizzle on the uncovered top courts and carrying on regardless and the matches were fun, hardfought and all played in the best of spirit.
There had already been a splendid meal on the Friday evening and Saturday night saw a repeat, with speeches from Geneva Fives supremo Filippo Variola, Zuoz legend Danel Haering, Old Citizens John Reynolds, David White and Saajan Shah, tournament organiser Renato Büchi and EFA Chair Matt Chinery, who presented the school with a specially commisioned painting of the upper courts to celebrate the centenary of the game at the Lyceum.
Where Saturday was drizzly, the weather on Sunday was glorious as the two tournaments headed towards exciting finales. While one of the Kinnaird winners present - Seb Cooley - had headed off to make his German cricket club debut on the cricket field down below, two other Kinnaird winners were heading towards the latter stages of each tournament, Riki Houlden in the Engadin Challenge and John Reynolds in the Queen's Cup. Both fell at the semi-final stage, however, with the school pair who conquered John & Sarah Jackman going on to win the final against Jessica Rees & Lewis Drummond in the Queen's Cup, while Riki & Geneva's Roland Knapp were knocked out by the Old Zuozer pairing of Renato & Alex Constantine. The other Engadin Challenge semi-final was one of the matches of the tournament, the Bhattacharya brothers facing off against each other, with Abs & Alex Heuberger just edging a classic encounter against Aroop & Peter Suess. Abs & Alex H were unable to reach the same level in the final, however, as Renato & Alex C powered away to a convincing win to claim the trophy.
The weekend concluded with a barbecue and presentations down at the cricket ground before everyone headed off home via various trains, planes and automobiles. The organisation, generosity and hospitality of the hosts was simply spectacular all weekend and it was a memorable trip for all of the British visitors, from first timers to Zuoz veterans.
A great weekend all round!