Details slowly emerge from the Cats' research trip... (World Elephant Polo Association Championships)
First win for Hong Kong at the 26th World Elephant Polo Championships
Chopard, in their second appearance, claimed the title at the World Elephant Polo Championships in Nepal, which took place between 18 and 24 November - a first title win for Hong Kong.
As the defending Champions, Angus Estates Scotland, were absent the field was open for new comers and Chopard grabbed this opportunity beating Chivas Regal Scotland in a thrilling final 7-4.
Representing Chopard, was an international team captained by Dave Garcia, an American living in Hong Kong, Irishman Donal Galvin of RaboBank, Australian Vic McLaglen, Roland Buser from Switzerland and Marc Van Eijck from Holland.
In a spectacular final played in front of a 2000 strong crowd the scores began 5-2 to Chopard according to the handicapping system. Chopard, with the crowd behind them, started well with Buser notching up two goals in the first half, taking the score to 7-2. Chivas, suddenly realizing they were leaving it dangerously late, upped the tempo and managed to get one back but failed to break through some furious defence by Buser and Van Eijck.
The second half saw Chivas try to reduce the deficit with a slight elephant advantage having swapped at half time. Led by Peter Prentice, the Chivas team of Raj Kalaan, Geoffrey Dobbs, Chris Stafford and Ricky Smith showed touches of brilliance benefiting from over 25 years of experience at the sport. Prentice scored a quick goal 30 seconds into the second chukka but with 3 minutes remaining on the clock the Chivas players started to show the effects of a tough week of polo and could not find the strength to get back into the match. Buser played an exceptional game, capping an amazing week for the Swiss player, earning him the Player of the Tournament award.
Chopard reached the finals by beating the Indian Tigers team 4 - 2 in an exciting semi final which saw Buser battling against Swede Bjorn Richardson, who unfortunately failed to capitalize on his earlier brilliant partnership with Sam Prentice. The Tigers played a strong tournament to eventually finish in third place with Bjorn and Sam ably assisted by their captain Tia Rongsen from Nagaland, American Jason Friedman and Mark Heather and Carolyn Syangbo from England.
Chivas Regal Scotland played the game of their lives in the second semi final against old rivals National Parks, captained by Ram Pritt Yadev. With scores tied, 9-9, at full time they entered a golden goal situation but wasted little time with Prentice scoring in the first minute with a spectacular shot that sailed through the air passing over the goal approx 20 ft above the ground. National Parks Nepal finished in fourth place behind the Indian Tigers on goal difference.
The complete line up was Capital Pachyderms USA in fifth place; Andrew Martin UK in sixth place; British Gurkhas Nepal in 7th place and Tickle and the Ivories Singapore in 8th place.
Amateur Triumph for host team
The host team Tiger Tops Tuskers won the 1st Chopard Olympic Cup, for amateur teams who do not qualify for the World Championship playoffs. The Tuskers consisted of Captain Kristjan Edwards, CEO of the Tiger Mountain Group and his wife Stine and four rookie players - Kristjan’s younger brother Jack Edwards, Britt Shaw, Sarah Knight and James Batting,
In the amateur final they beat the Australian Elephant Polo team 5-4 in an incredibly close game with Jack Edwards scoring in the dying minutes to seal the victory for the Tuskers. The Australian’s, sponsored by Hungry Jack’s, displayed superior teamwork with their Captain Michael Loughman pushing his rookie team – Jack Cowin, David Harris, Paul Cowper, Jamie Boyd, Rob Stewart and Cameron Williams of Cannel 9 Today Show - so close to victory.
The battle for bronze position in the Chopard Olympic Cup was won by the Caledonian Cavaliers team from Scotland who beat the Airey and Wheeler team from the Bahamas 3-2. The Cavaliers - Michael Lightbody (captain), Crawford Currie, Dave Gillon, Iain Davidson, Jeremy Hart Jamie Lonsdale, Mickey Courtney, George Asher, Andy Dunlop and Sandy Milne - battled hard against an agile Airey and Wheeler team consisting of Christopher Johnson (captain), Marcus Cronan, Peter Caplowe, Janek Gazecki, John Brunner and Karta Singh Healey.
The All Nepal Challenge for mahoots, who both control their elephant and play with sticks, generated the anticipated fast and colourful display of elephant polo and was watched by an excited and knowledgeable crowd on prize giving day. Tiger Tops used their teamwork and positional play to good effect but unfortunately could not make a clean break away and the game ended in a 1-1 draw with the National Parks team.
The tournament was officiated by Jim Edwards, Chairman of the World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) and proprietor of Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge located within the Chitwan National Park in Nepal, where the world championship has been held since 1982.
Entries for the 27th World Championship are now being invited, more information available on www.elephantpolo.com or from info@elephantpolo.com.
For further information contact:
Jim Edwards (World Elephant Polo Association) +977 1 4371192 / avje@tigermountain.com
Carolyn Syangbo (World Elephant Polo Association) +977 98510 36695 / ccs@mos.com.np
Jim Long (Chivas Regal Scotland/World Elephant Polo Association)
+ 44 (0) 208 250 1641 / + 44 (0) 7799 075072
Note to Editors:
· The event is organised by Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge on the edge of Chitwan National Park. The World Elephant Polo Championships will again be raising money for the local region and has supported schools and orphanages in the area throughout the history of the tournament.
Hi John
...and just in case you weren't jealous enough, here are some pictures!
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Elephant Polo
As you may know. Jeremy has been on a rather bizarre trip to play elephant polo in Nepal. Martin entered a team into the World Elephant Polo Championships held in Chitwan National Park in Nepal. He made it through the interview stage (by telling the organisers they were all ex-jockeys and polo players - not) and they were allowed to submit a team, the Caledonian Cavaliers. They headed off on the 16th November for 10 days with a few hiccups along the way. Their luggage didn't make it until a few days after they arrived so they only had the clothes they stood up in initially. Two of the guys didn't receive their luggage until the day before they returned home. Unfortunately this meant that they were always two short of their team strip which is why there are no photos of them all in the same gear. However despite these trials and tribulations they had an amazing trip and all came home buzzing about their experience. They stayed at Tiger Tops, a tented camp in the jungle which is run by an ex-pat, Jim Edwards - a bit of a character by all accounts. The facilities weren't exactly five star but they managed without electricity and the comforts of home assisted, no doubt, by copious amounts of gin and tonic. The journey to the playing field each day involved a jeep, a river crossing by canoe and then jeep again. On the final day they rode the elephants back across the river which, by all accounts, was an unforgettable experience. They took an early morning elephant safari in the mist hoping to catch sight of a Bengal tiger. They saw plenty of other wildlife including white rhinos, but no tigers although they did see their tracks. They were thrown in at the deep end on their first day - within 10 minutes of arriving at the polo fields they were on elephants and practising their polo. Most of them had never even been on a horse before! However they managed to win a game against one of the seeded teams - quite impressive when most of the teams had professional polo players and had been competing in this competition for years. They made it into the plate and were beaten into third by the Australian team. The Aussies had a Channel 9 Today Show TV presenter in their team, Cameron Williams, and they had a film crew following them. Cameron was filming a video diary of his experience which included a quite a bit of footage of the Caledonian Cavaliers. These clips were played over the course of a week on the Today show and can be seen on the web at http://tw.truveo.com/Cameron-at-the-elephant-polo/id/2732238441 . As well as their trophy for finishing 3rd in the plate, the boys were also presented with the trophy for most outstanding performance on and off the field. I think this may have had something to do with the fact that they seemed to provide the evening entertainment each night which involved nuns costumes, air guitars, Beatles wigs and Martin's portable karaoke machine. I don't think the locals had seen their like before. Suffice to say they had a ball and made some new friends along the way .
posted by Nan at 3:25 PM
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...and here's the tiger we saw on the way to the pitch.
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Further photos and videos are at: http://www.dcelephantpolo.com/WEPA2007.html
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