Elephant Polo Tournament Thailand

On the banks of the Mekong river, against a misty backdrop of rolling hills stretching far into Myanmar and Laos, elephants trumpeted on command as Oliver and Niffy Winter and Hugo Goetz lifted the King’s Cup aloft for Mercedes Benz Thailand to celebrate hard-fought victory over Chivas Regal Scotland in the seventh King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament.

It’s hard to think of a sport that is more exclusive than elephant polo. The game is legendary in polo circles, but few have the good fortune to experience the phenomenon firsthand for the simple reason that doing so involves a lot of travel, more than a degree of ‘into the unknown’ and not inconsiderable time investment. As extraordinary as it is inaccessible, elephant polo should be on everyone’s ‘once in a lifetime’ list of must dos.

In terms of sheer tonnage it is undoubtedly the ‘biggest’ form of polo and, quite simply, unless you have a jungle home filled with tame and trained elephants it is impossible to put one team of elephants together, let alone enough to hold a week-long polo tournament. All in all, elephant polo is definitely one of the rarest and most exclusive sports of all. It is also incredibly special for many reasons, but perhaps most importantly because the sport is at the forefront of elephant conservation.

A phenomenon that has enjoyed almost legendary status since 1982 when the sport was founded in Nepal, elephant polo has enjoyed phenomenal growth and support in Thailand since 2000 when the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament was inaugurated.

Most significantly elephant has the plight of the Asian elephant in Thailand and raised more than $250,000 USD to date for elephant conservation. The sport is now one of the top five sources of funds for the government’s conservation efforts. The Elephant Camp located within the grounds of the Anantara Resort Golden Triangle, focuses on the future of Thailand’s pachyderm population and resident nature ranger, John Roberts, works closely with the Thai government’s Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang to further develop Anantara’s camp as an elephant sanctuary.

Players and supporters had travelled from across the globe to the Golden Triangle to support and participate in the six-day event that has become an essential part of the Thai sporting and tourism calendar. Under the watchful eye of AV Jim Edwards, the sport’s co-founder who created the game 26 years ago, the 2008 tournament proved to be an elephant polo showcase with the world’s very best players in action.

The King’s Cup Tournament will be held at Anantara Golden Triangle Resort, Thailand, 23–39 March 2009.

The World Elephant Polo Association was founded 26 years ago in Nepal by two Brits, James Manclark and Jim Edwards. It has now become a series of world-class events embodying superb skill and daring, undertaken in a spirit of fun and goodwill, and at the same time contributing to charity.

Tournaments are held in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Nepal each year under the auspices of the World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA). The format is similar to horse polo and uses the same size ball but longer sticks.

In Nepal, four elephant teams compete over two 10-minute chukkas on a pitch one-third the size of a horse polo pitch. In Thailand and Sri Lanka similar rules apply with the use of three elephants per side. ‘Mahouts’ or drivers control elephants, whilst the players concentrate on wielding extra long polo sticks. Other rules include: No elephants may lie down in front of the goal – An elephant may not pick up the ball with its trunk during play – Stepping on the ball is forbidden.