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TOURNAMENT
SCHEDULE
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The "King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament",
the popular sport of kings, returns
to the Royal Paradise of Hua Hin.
A game of two-ton mounts, two metre-long
mallets and one small white ball, the
third annual King's Cup Elephant Polo
Tournament will be played on a specially
prepared Elephant Polo Field at the
Som Dej Phra Suriyothai (the 16th
Infantry Division) in Hua Hin from September
16 – 21, 2003.
This year’s tournament, organised
by the Anantara Resort and Spa and supported
by the Tourism Authority of Thailand,
is the biggest yet. Twelve international
teams will be taking part, fielding
a range of polo prowess - from international
horse polo players and elephant polo
champions to Q-Bar mixologists and have-a-go
novices. Spectator admission to all
the games is free of charge.
In 2002 it was Mercedes Benz Thailand’s
German team, an unstoppable trio of
horse polo playing brothers, who took
the King’s Cup home to Hamburg.
This year the Mercedes Benz team are
coming back to defend their title, playing
against a line up which includes past
champions Chivas Regal, American Express
Thailand, PricewaterhouseCoopers WEPA
Nepal, Nokia Thailand, Britain’s
King’s Royal Hussars, Tickle and
the Ivories, Q-Bar, Mullis Capital,
Sandalford Winery Australia, the Screwless
Tuskers and the Thaigem.com Jewels -
a team of the world’s top women
elephant polo players.
Played according to World Elephant Polo
Association rules, the tournament in
Thailand will be played with three elephants
per team on a pitch that is one-third
the size of a horse polo field. A game
is comprised of two 7-minute chukkas.
The players will use specially made
elongated polo sticks that are 78 to
110 inches in length, depending on the
height of the elephant, using standard
size polo balls.
Each elephant carries a polo player
and a mahout. The mahout directs the
elephant using his voice, hands, feet
or a goad. The umpire of the game oversees
the play from a wooden howdah on the
back of the largest elephant.
The height of the elephants range from
2 to 2.5m, and they weigh between 2
to 2.8 tonnes each. They usually eat
in excess of 200 kg of food each day.
The largest elephants are used in defence
while the smaller ones with greater
speed are used in attack.
Elephant Polo was first played by Mogul
Indian Kings and was reintroduced with
a new twist in 1982 by an Englishman
(Jim Edwards) and a Scotsman (James
Mann-Clark) -- Polo on elephants. Since
then the tournament has been played
in Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Kingdom
of Thailand.
ELEPHANT
POLO HISTORY AND RULES OF THE GAME
Please click to view
As in previous years, the event will
raise money for the National Elephant
Institute – an indispensable and
dedicated organisation under the auspices
of the Thai government, which provides
welfare, sustenance, medical care and
employment for Thailand’s elephants
and mahouts. The 2002 tournament raised
a record one million Baht for the institute.
This year the goal is to raise 1.5 million
Baht, says William Heinecke, CEO of
Royal Garden Resorts, owner of the Anantara
Resort and Spa.
The third annual King's Cup Elephant
Polo Tournament tournament will be launched
on Saturday 13th September
with two ‘fun’ matches –
The Bangkok Post vs The Nation followed
by The Celebrity Cup when two teams
of celebrities will battle it out to
claim the trophy. The tournament proper
starts on Tuesday 16th September
with an elephant parade of all the teams
and an exhibition match.
The Charity Gala Dinner will be held
on Saturday 20th September
at the Anantara Resort and Spa with
the theme of ‘A Day at the Races’.
For the fundraising auction, the organisers
got extra creative. This year’s
biddable packages include a weekend
in the world’s fastest C-Class
Mercedes, a weekend learning how to
be a hot-air balloon pilot in Chiang
Mai, a stingray-leather elephant stool
from Lotus Arts de Vivre and an hour’s
tennis lesson with Thai tennis superstar
Paradorn Srichaphan.
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| paintbrush-wielding
elephants |
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elephant
orchestra |
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Attending the tournament will be members
of the National Elephant Institute’s
elephant orchestra and the paintbrush-wielding
elephants, whose artworks regularly
sell at auction for up to US$800.
Tickets for the gala dinner cost THB
4,500++ (US$110++) per person and tickets
for the Jazz Brunch THB 800++ (US$25++)
per person. Tickets are available from
the Anantara Resort and Spa on 0 3252
0250.
RELATED
ARTICLES
Please click on the item to select
KING'S CUP ELEPHANT POLO PACKAGE
September 16 - 21, 2003
For anyone wanting to make a week of
it, the Anantara Resort and Spa is offering
a special 5-night/6-day elephant polo
package for the duration of the tournament
which includes:
5 nights double-occupancy accommodation
Daily buffet breakfast
Transportation to and from the
elephant polo field
2 tickets to the gala dinner
on Saturday 20th September
2 tickets to the champagne jazz
brunch being held at the elephant
polo field on finals day and
Late check out until 20.00 hrs.
on Sunday 21st September
Prices start from US$739++ for two people
sharing.
Further information
about the event, please visit
www.anantara.com/elephantpolo
Thailand Elephant Polo
Association
www.thaielepolo.com
For information on Elephant
Polo, please visit the World Elephant
Polo Association web site
www.elephantpolo.com
RELATED ARTICLES
THE
NATIONAL ELEPHANT INSTITUTE (NEI)/
Thai Elephant Conservation Centre
Under The Royal Patronage of HRH
Princess Galyani Vadhana, Lampang Province
http://www.tatnews.org/others/1785.asp
Please click
to view
ROYAL
PARADISE
http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/1209.asp
Please click
to view
Elephant polo photos featured in this
article by Rachot Visalarnkul ©
Anantara Resort & Spa Hua Hin
Contact information:
Anantara Resort & Spa Hua Hin
email: cstafford@anantara.com
For further inquiries and bookings,
please contact:
Reservations Department
E-mail: info@anantara.com
Tel: (66) 0 3252 0250
Fax: (66) 0 3252 0259
Press Contact - For English:
Diana Moxon
E-mail: dmoxon@minornet.com
Tel: 66 (0) 2 877 7495 (direct line)
66 (0) 2 877 5803
| THAI
AND INTERNATIONAL TV STARS GET
A TASTE OF ELEPHANT POLO |
Top models Cindy Burbridge and
Byron Bishop together with TV
stars Pol, Boom, Art and Cha na
na will be climbing into a jumbo
saddle on Saturday 13th
September when they play in the
Anantara Celebrity Elephant Polo
Cup.
Joining the Thai stars and
bringing the international flare
to the high-profile team will
be CNN Asia’s Lorraine
Hahn, presenter of the weekly
Talk Asia show, and famous British
sports author and after-dinner
speaker Ian Stafford.
The Anantara Celebrity Cup
is the forerunner to the week
long King’s Cup Elephant
Polo Tournament, which takes
place from 16th to
21st September and
sees top horse polo players,
elephant polo afficionados and
complete novices battle it out
for the coveted King’s
Cup.
The afternoon’s sporting
entertainment also includes
a local press derby with a team
of determined journalists from
the Bangkok Post set to clash
with a rival team from The Nation
for the Sandalford Press Cup.
The Nation Sports Editor Alan
Parkhouse will be captaining
a team comprising Assistant
Group Editor Kavi Chongkittavoin,
news journalist Don Pathan and
correspondent Andrew Drummond.
In charge of The Bangkok Post
team are Sports Editors Roger
Crutchley and Jim Hawker backed
up by columnist Colin Hastings,
sports reporter Wanchai Rujawongsanti
and Kittipong Thongsombat from
Post Today.
The King’s Cup Elephant
Polo Tournament raises money
for the National Elephant Institute’s
elephant conservation centre
in Lampang. Event organisers
are hoping to raise 1.5 million
Baht this year.
The Anantara Celebrity and
Sandalford Press Cup matches
will take place at the Som Dej
Phra Suriyothai military ground
in Hua Hin. The Sandalford Press
Cup will take place at 2pm and
the Anantara Celebrity Cup at
3pm.
Spectator entrance is free
of charge.
Contact information:
Anantara Resort & Spa Hua
Hin
email: cstafford@anantara.com
For further inquiries and bookings,
please contact:
Reservations Department
E-mail: info@anantara.com
Tel: (66) 0 3252 0250
Fax: (66) 0 3252 0259
Press Contact - For English:
Diana Moxon
dmoxon@minornet.com
66 (0) 2 877 7495 (direct line) |
CREATIVE
AUCTION TO RAISE RECORD FUNDS FOR THE
NATIONAL ELEPHANT INSTITUTE
An hour’s tennis lesson with Thai
tennis-superstar Khun Paradorn Srichaphan,
a weekend in the world’s fastest
C-Class Mercedes and two days learning
how to be a hot air-balloon pilot with
Oriental Balloon Flights are amongst
the items up for auction at this year’s
King’s Cup Elephant Polo gala
dinner.
The dinner will be held on Saturday
20th September at the Anantara
Resort and Spa Hua Hin and promises
to be a big-money night for the National
Elephant Institute, the recipient
of the tournament’s fund-raising.
Last year’s tournament raised
one million Baht for the elephant
charity and event organiser Christopher
Stafford hopes to top that amount
this year.
Other top auction items include a
galuchat (stingray leather) elephant
stool finished in sterling silver
from Lotus Arts de Vivre, a money-can’t-buy
Scottish whisky experience donated
by team sponsors Chivas Regal, a week’s
detox at top health spa Chiva Som,
a sizeable gemstone from ladies team
sponsor Thaigem.com, a week’s
luxury accommodation at the new Marriott
Vacation Club in Phuket and world-class
wines from Australia’s Sandalford
Winery.
Funds raised at the 2002 King’s
Cup Elephant Polo were used for elephant
welfare and mahout training at the
NEI’s elephant conservation
centre in Lampang, Thailand’s
leading centre for elephant care.
250 tickets are available for the
dinner, which will be attended by
elephant polo players and VIPs. Themed
‘A Day at the Races’ the
evening will start with horse racing
on the beach at Hua Hin before a sumptuous
4-course dinner, live music by The
Boy Band and dancing til dawn on the
resort’s beach lawn.
Tickets cost THB4500++ per person
and are available from the Anantara
Resort and Spa. Ticket reservations
can be made by phone to 0 3252 0250
or by email to info@anantara.com.
THE
NATIONAL ELEPHANT INSTITUTE (NEI)/
Thai Elephant Conservation Centre
Under The Royal Patronage of HRH
Princess Galyani Vadhana, Lampang
Province
http://www.tatnews.org/others/1785.asp
Please click
to view
ELEPHANT
POLO HISTORY AND RULES OF THE GAME
The World Elephant Polo Association
established the governing rules for
Elephant Polo in 1982, the association
has its headquarters at the Tiger Tops
Jungle Lodge in the Royal Chitwan Park
in Nepal which is where the World Elephant
Polo Tournament is played every year
on a grass airfield in Megauly.
In 2001 two new competitions were launched
- the King’s Cup Elephant Polo
Tournament in Hua Hin Thailand, organised
by the Anantara Resort and Spa and held
each September and the Ceylon Elephant
Polo Association Championships, held
on Weligama beach in front of Taprobane
Island in southern Sri Lanka each February.
ORGANISATION OF THE GAME
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In Thailand the game is played
with three players on each team
on a marked pitch of 100 metres
by 60 metres using a standard
size polo ball. |
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The game consists of two 7-minute
chukkas of playing time, with
an interval of 15 minutes. The
whistle blown by the referee stops
and starts the play. |
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The pitch is marked with a
centre line; a circle with a radius
of 10 metres in the centre of
the field, and a semi-circle,
in front of the goals, with a
radius of 20 metres, measured
from the centre of the goal line
at either end of the pitch which
is referred to as the D. |
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Elephants and ends are changed
at half time. |
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The scoring system awards two
points to a winning team and one
point apiece to teams which draw.
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RULES
The rules are similar to those of horse
polo but some key points to note are
that the elephants have a player and
a mahout, ladies are allowed to use
both hands and elongated sticks of around
two metres in length are used.
Additionally there are some elephant
specific rules:
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Any team having more than 3
elephants in one half of the pitch
is judged to have committed a
foul. |
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No more than 2 elephants may
be in the D at one time –
one from the attacking team and
one from the defending team. |
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There are no restrictions as
to the height, weight or sex of
the elephants. |
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No elephants may lie down in
front of the goal mouth. To do
so will constitute a foul. A free
hit is awarded to the opposing
side from the semi-circle in front
of the goal. |
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An elephant may not pick up
the ball in its trunk during play.
To do so constitutes a foul and
a free hit is awarded to the opposing
team from the spot where the ball
was picked up. The defending players
must be 15 metres from the spot. |
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Teams are made up from the
pool of elephants and balanced
out as fairly as possible bearing
in mind size and speed of the
elephant. Once the pool of elephants
has been selected, each elephant
is categorized and marked as A,B,C,D,
E, F. |
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Sugar cane or rice balls packed
with vitamins (molasses and rock
salt) shall be given to the elephants
at the end of each match and a
cold beer, or soft drink, to the
elephant drivers and not vice
versa. |
THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF THE ELEPHANTS
USED IN T.E.P.A. TOURNAMENTS IS OF PRIME
CONCERN, ABUSE OF THE ELEPHANT IS CONSIDERED
TO BE THE MOST SERIOUS OFFENCE.
HANDICAPPING
Handicaps are assigned by the T.E.P.A.
Handicapping Committee and handicapped
players may come under one of two categories
| 1. |
Professional horse polo players.
The handicap awarded to any registered
professional horse polo player
shall total half of their horse
polo handicap. |
| 2. |
Professional and seasoned elephant
polo players. A half goal handicap
will be assigned to any player
who has played in three or more
World Series (WEPA, TEPA or CEPA)
elephant polo championships anywhere
in the world and does not have
a horse polo handicap. |
Players handicaps are decided before
the tournament commences. Player handicaps
may not be changed during the tournament.
Should a team's total handicap when
summed result in a half goal handicap,
the handicap is rounded down.
Full information about the rules of
the game is available at www.thaielepolo.com
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