2006 King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament - September 04-06 2006

August 20th, 2006

 2006 KING’S CUP ELEPHANT POLO TOURNAMENT
September 4 - 10, 2006 will be held at Chiang Saen Secondary School, Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai, Thailand. Spectator entrance is free of charge.

Thailand’s highly popular King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament heads for the hills in 2006. Event organiser Anantara Resorts has recently announced that the 2006 tournament would take place from 4-10 September in the northern-most region of the country popularly known as the Golden Triangle.This annual event, ranked as the sixth largest event on the Thai tourism calendar has, for the past five years, taken place in the royal seaside town of Hua Hin, situated 220km south of the Thai capital Bangkok. The tournament was introduced to Thailand in 2001 by Anantara Vice-President, Christopher Stafford and is a charitable event that raises money for the country’s National Elephant Institute in Lampang, northern Thailand.

In just five years the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament has gone from a small 2-day event with 6 teams into a week-long extravaganza, which in 2005 featured 16 teams from 3 continents encompassing 55 players from 15 countries. The event now attracts corporate sponsors, which include such global brands as American Express, British Airways, Chivas Regal, Mercedes Benz and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In addition to the world’s top horse polo players, the 2005 tournament saw the return of Bernie Fraser, New Zealand’s former world-ranking All Blacks rugby player plus newcomers, Nick Farr Jones and Peter Fitzsimmons from Australia’s Wallabies team.

“The growing interest each year is enormous,� Stafford commented. “When we started it was more of a weekend knock-round than a tournament. Last year we had a waiting list of teams wanting to take part!�

Explaining the decision for the change in venue, Stafford said: “The tournament generates an enormous amount of international media exposure and over the years has contributed towards raising awareness of Hua Hin as a tourism destination.�

“So by leveraging the popularity of the tournament, we aim to now turn the international media spotlight onto a very unique and special part of Thailand, showcasing the beauty of the natural landscape of the Golden Triangle region,� he said.

Through its own Elephant Camp located within the grounds of the Anantara Resort Golden Triangle, the property’s focus on the future of Thailand’s pachyderm population forms an integral part of the resort’s operations,� Stafford added. “On an on-going basis, resident nature ranger John Roberts works closely with the Thai government’s Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang to develop Anantara’s camp as an elephant sanctuary.�

The Tourism Authority of Thailand supports the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament and spectator entrance is free of charge. The 2006 event will take place within the grounds of the Chiang Saen Secondary School, located some 60 km from Chiang Rai International Airport and 12 kms from the Anantara Resort Golden Triangle.

Past tournament winners whose names are now engraved on the King’s Cup trophy are Chivas Regal (2001), Mercedez Benz Germany (2002 and 2003), Mobile Easy Thailand (2004) and Chivas Regal (2005).

To date the tournament has raised over US$140,000 for the National Elephant Institute, which provides medical care, sustenance, employment, welfare and mahout training to Thailand’s elephant population. It is estimated that Thailand has around 2500 domesticated elephants and 1500 wild elephants. This is down from an elephant population of around 50,000 in 1950 and 100,000 in 1900.

The modern game of elephant polo was founded in Nepal in 1982 by Englishman Jim Edwards, owner of Tiger Tops Lodge in Nepal and James Manclark, a former British Olympic bobsleigh competitor. The King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is part of the World Elephant Polo Association World Series. The World Championships take place in Chitwan National Park, Nepal every December and the Ceylon Elephant Polo tournament takes place each February in Sri Lanka’s fort town of Galle.

Further information about the tournament and reservations are available on line at http://www.anantara.com/. Information about the tournament is also available at http://www.elephantpolo.com/

For all International media enquiries, please contact:
Shamini Murugan
Tel: +66 (0) 2476-0022 ext 1719
Mobile: +66 (0) 1904 7344
E-mail: smurugan@minornet.com

Source: Tourism Authority of Thailand

Tags: King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament, Chiang Rai Hotels, Anantara Resort Golden Triangle

Entry Filed under: Thailand Destination