Top Trunks
Exposing the most unusual sport to grip South East Asia, Matthew Fairhurst heads to Tailand to uncover the unbelievable world of Elephant Polo
popularity of the sport has led to more and more events opening up to public crowds, the refined manner of the sport still engenders a select crowd. But as far as mainstream interest in this historic sport goes, compared to the coverage and interest the sport has in South America, we Brits are pretty much stuck in the dark ages. Indeed, even the hardiest British sports buff would struggle to name the Argentina national captain, Nacho Figueras, who has become a global ambassador for the sport and international megastar, following numerous stints on Oprah – it just goes to show what a big world it really is out there. With this in mind, there must be an abundance of sports sliding right off the
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n the UK, Polo, as we know it, is almost entirely synonymous with restricted high society life. Although, since the millennium, a continuing rise in
western radar, which in their own regions bring passion and excitement to whole cultures. One unbelievable sport to quite literally power its way to the hearts of thousands of Asian enthusiasts is the utterly unique variant of this great game – the professional sport of elephant polo.
Having started out as a whimsical
conversation between two sport lovers in the early 80s, the playing of polo on the back of elephants is now a national treasure to fans across Tailand and Nepal, with annual tournaments becoming some of the largest and most popular events across the continent. Te 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 played every year on a grassy airfield in Megauly. Tis tournament is played within a relatively small circuit, including the countries Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tailand. In Tailand, the King’s Cup Elephant Polo
Tournament was first launched in Hua Hin by Anantara Resort in 2001. In 2006, the
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