Four teams with a handicap of 14 to 16 goals from Switzerland, England, Italy and Ireland have announced their attendance and the spectators can anticipate top-level players. In addition to the 7-goalers Max Charlton from England as well as Dario Musso and Piki Diaz Alberdi from Argentina, there will also be high class technicians and playmakers such as 6-goalers Chris Hyde, James Harper, Richard Le Poer Beresford, Lucas Labat and Pepe Riglos.
Cartier, Badrutt‘s Palace, BMW and Trois Pommes are the sponsors of this year’s participating teams. Deutsche Bank supports the tournament as gold sponsor, La Martina is official supplier. This much is clear: there will be a top-class social program. The cocktail reception and the exclusive gala dinner will live up to the glamorous past of the event. Reto Gaudenzi: “The feedback on our project is fantastic, everyone acts in concert. Thanks to the support of the sponsors, the community of St. Moritz and the Kurverein we can preserve and continue the Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz.”
It’s been 30 years since the native-born Engadin Reto Gaudenzi, back then manager of the legendary Badrutt‘s Palace in St. Moritz, had the idea to play polo on the frozen Lake St. Moritz. At that time, nobody would have thought it would be possible and many could not help laughing when hearing this absurd plan. But Gaudenzi and his fellow campaigners succeeded in launching the first snow polo tournament in the world. Today, thirty years later, snow polo is played all over the world: for example in Aspen, Colorado, in Cortina, Italy and in Tianjin, China. But the original snow polo tournament of St. Moritz is still the most prestigious and highly remunerated polo tournament on snow at international level.
For many years, after Gaudenzi had started to address other tasks, St. Moritz Polo AG was responsible for organising the tournament, the last time in 2014. Then the organisers threw in the towel and the future of the tournament was uncertain. Reto Gaudenzi, who today organises polo tournaments all over the world, now steps in and returns to St. Moritz. In association with his friends and Swiss polo personalities Dr Piero Dillier, Andy Küchel, Werner Meier and Thomas Rinderknecht, he founded the Evviva Polo St. Moritz AG in Spring 2014 to guarantee the continuance of the snow classic in St. Moritz. Reto Gaudenzi: “The uncertainty about the future of this sporting and social highlight in St. Moritz kept on bothering us. Friends of polo from all over the world encouraged us to once again assume the responsibility for the tournament in St. Moritz and to lead it to a secure future.”
For more information please visit www.snowpolo-stmoritz.com
The teams:
Cartier (+16)
Jonathan Munro Ford (0) AUS (TC)
Max Charlton (+7) GBR
Chris Hyde (+6) GBR
Jamie Morrison (+3) GBR
Trois Pommes (+14)
Thomas Wolfensberger (+1) SUI (TC)
Cédric Schweri (0) SUI
Pepe Riglos (+6) ARG
Piki Diaz Alberdi (+7) ARG
BMW (+15)
Rommy Gianni (+1) ITA (TC)
Paolo Netzsch (+1) GER
Dario Musso (+7) ARG
Lucas Labat (+6) ARG
Badrutt’s Palace Hotel (+16)
Richard Fagan (+1) IRL (TC)
Max Hutchinson (+3) GBR
Richard Le Poer Beresford (+6) GBR
James Harper (+6) GBR
