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Anantara Golden Triangle Chiang Rai To Host Elephant Polo 2006

14 Sept 2006, King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament Thailand’s highly popular King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament heads for the hills in 2006 4 Sep 2006 - 10 Sep 2006

Thailand's highly popular King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament heads for the hills in 2006. Event organiser Anantara Resorts announcced 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.

Chaophya Park Hotel is ideally located in one of Bangkok's newly emerging business, leisure and entertainment districts.

This annual event, ranked as the 6th  largest event on theThai tourism calendar has, for the past five years, taken place in the royal saeside town of Hua Hin, situated 220km south of the Thai capital Bangkok. The tournament was introducted to Thailand in 2001 by Anantara Vice-President, Chistopher 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 gine 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 sponrs, which include such global brands as American Express, Birtish Airways, Chivas Regal, Mercedes Benz and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In addition to the world's top horse polo players, the 2005 tournament saw the return oh Bernie fraser, New Zealand' s former world-ranking , All Blacks rugby players plus newcomers , Nick Farr Jones and Peter fitzsimmons from Australia's wallabies team.

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

Explaining the decision for the change in venue, Staefford said: 'The tournment generates an enormous amount of internatinal media exposure and over the years as contributed towards raising awareness of Hua Hin as a tourisn destination."

Patong Beach Lodge is a short stroll from the beach and the shopping and entertainment district.

"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 landscaped of the Golden Triangekle region," he said.

Thorgh its own Elephant Camp located within the grouds of the Anantara Resort Golden Triangle, the propotry's focus on the future of Thailand's pachyderm population froms an integral part of the resort's operations." Stafford added, "On an on-o=going basis, resident nature ranger John Roberts works closely with the Thai goverment's Elephant  Conservation Centre in Lampang to develop Anantara 's camp as an elephant santuary."

The Tourism Authority of Thailand supports the King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament and spector entrance is free of change. The 2006 event will take place within the grounds of te Chaing Saen Secoundary School, located some 60 km from Chaing Rai Internation Airport and 12 kms from the Anatara 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 Insitute, 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 Edwords, ownedr of Tiger Tops Lodge in Nepal and James Manclark, a former British Olmpic 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 Deceember and the Ceylon Elephant Polo tournament takes place each February in Sri Lanka's fort town of Galle.

Source: tourismthailand.org

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