On 11 February the novuss tournament “Embassy Cup 2012” took place at the Latvian Embassy. Employees of the embassies of Estonia and Latvia as well as members of the Estonian and Latvian communities in Washington participated. The winner of the Embassy Cup was Aldis Bērziņš, who was an Olympic champion playing on the US volleyball team in 1984. Second place went to the defence attaché of the Estonian Embassy Aivar Salekešin and third place to Latvian Ambassador to the United States Andrejs Pildegovičs. The Estonian Embassy donated Evelin Ilves’s cookbook as the prize for the best female competitor, and it went to fourth-place winner Daiga Jansone.
The game of novuss got its start in Estonian and Latvian harbor towns in the 1920s. The first championship tournament took place in Latvia in 1932, after which the game spread to other countries as well. In North America, novuss championships are held every year In New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
