Bring your biggest mallet, have a ball - PROAZN.COM COMMUNITY: Asian Men and All Races of Women Coming Together

AZN · #1 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 05:09 PM

Bring your biggest mallet, have a ball

By Oliver Benjamin
Publisher:The Nation - Publication Date: 31-03-2008

Ornately decorated temples, fiery cuisine and postcard-perfect beaches aside, the most beloved international symbol of Thailand must surely be its elephants. It's fitting, then, that elephant Polo, a 25-year old sport, has enjoyed such great success since arriving here seven years ago.

Never seen an elephant polo match? Well, now's your chance: The Anantara Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai is hosting the 2008 King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament from March 31 through April 6.

And it's definitely worth the trip up north. Admittedly, it's not always easy to think of elephant polo as a serious sport when you are watching a 10-ton pachyderm charging down a football pitch, but competitive tournaments have been held since the early '80s in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and it's currently jockeying for Olympic recognition.

Originally dreamt up by two UK aristocrats over cocktails in a Swiss toboggan club, elephant polo is finally getting the recognition such an oversized and oddball endeavour deserves.

Annual competitions have featured such popular celebrities as Steven Seagal, Billy Connolly and Ringo Starr, as well as athletic heroes from a wide variety of traditional sports. And underneath all the hoopla, there's plenty of heart as well: the money raised by the competitions - through entrance fees and charity auctions - goes to help alleviate the plight of the endangered Siamese elephant itself.

Elephantine challenges
Only 100 years ago, 90 per cent of Thailand was densely forested. Heavy development has reduced the wooded area to less than 15 per cent and the attendant destruction of the natural habitat has had catastrophic results for the Thai elephant population, down to 4,000 today from more than 100,000 in 1900. And most of those are being held in captivity, else the numbers would surely drop further.

Of course, taking care of thousands of these enormous creatures is no small task, and the beneficiary of Thailand's annual polo tournament, the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang, has been charged with the weighty responsibility of finding ways and means to keep their numbers from dwindling further. The annual King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is one of those means - so far the tournament has raised more than US$160,000 (5.1 million baht) for the centre. It's certainly something to trumpet about.

Wrinkles of engagement
Despite a stripped-down set of rules, a much slower pace and the help of a mahout, the elephantine-version of polo is far trickier than it looks for those who wield the mallets. For one thing, the player must rely on the expertise of the handler, and those without a rudimentary knowledge of Thai will find themselves at a noticeable disadvantage. Secondly, the longer mallet makes it harder to hit the ball, and the flexibility of the bamboo shaft means it's a less accurate instrument. Finally, the sheer bulk of the creatures often make it impossible to locate the ball as it disappears under mountains of close-pressed grey flesh. Happily, the rules are simple enough that even the most clueless amateur can be up and competing in minutes, however inexpertly.

The Big Match
For the first five years the King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament was held at Hua Hin, but in 2006 the tournament's host, Anantara Resort, decided to move the competition to its greener sibling, the Golden Triangle resort on Thailand's northern border with Burma and Laos. Aside from offering a refreshing change of scenery, this new location is much closer to the true home and habitat of the country's elephant population than the seaside resort town only a couple of hours south of Bangkok. What's more, this year's tournament promises to outshine all previous ones, with an unforgettable celebration of northern Thai culture and all things elephantastic.

Although it's too late to participate this year, the event is free and friendly for spectators, and 2009's tournament still has space for teams of eager jumbo-jockeys. If you're interested in attending, book your accommodations at the Golden Triangle (Sop Ruak) or nearby Chiang Saen immediately. When a herd of elephants come to town, things are bound to get a little crowded.