NEPAL: Scotland win the Elephant Polo Championships

Scotland win the World Elephant Polo Championships in Nepal. The Chivas Regal team from Scotland became the 2004 world elephant polo champions after defeating Nepal's National Parks team in the final of the world championships on Saturday (December 4). The Scottish team, captained by Torquhil Argyll, the Duke of Argyll, defeated the local side 12-6 to take the title. Eight international teams of man and elephant representing Scotland, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Nepal and the defending champions, the British team, assembled in the Nepalese village of Meghauly, on the edge of the Royal Chitwan National Park, to take part in this annual event. Local dancers welcomed the competitors and spectators who travelled to the championships which raise money for local charities. Each game consists of two chukkas of ten minutes. The smaller, younger elephants are the fastest and are primarily used in an attacking position. The elephants are controlled by 'mahouts' or drivers, whilst the players concentrate on wielding extra long polo sticks, but communication between all three - mahout, player and elephant - is crucial. The rules of the game are similar to horse polo, but the pitch is 3/4 length and there can be no more than three elephants in one half of a pitch at a time, to avoid the dangers of the animals' herd instincts crowding them into a semi-permanent huddle. Fouls can include standing on the ball, hooking an opponent's stick and deliberately crossing in front of a charging elephant. Professional polo players are handicapped as in horse polo, and seasoned elephant polo players also carry a one goal handicap. Although each team of elephants is evenly matched, opposing teams swap elephants at the end of the first chukka to negate any advantage. After an intense week of competition, Chivas Regal Scotland earned their place in the final against the favourites the National Park team of Nepal, captained by Ram Pritt Yadav. The local team, despite having several strong, experienced elephant polo players and large local support, could not compete with newcomer David Bernal, an Argentinean 5 goal horse polo player, who dominated play to give Scotland this year's title. Also playing in the Scottish side were Geoffrey Dobbs and Bhim Chaudhary. The winning captain, Torquhil Argyll, was clearly delighted with his team's performance. "It's just fantastic to be world champions but I think we got our tactics right in the beginning, we played the National Parks before, we knew where their weaknesses were, and we played to them and we got them on the run, it was just, ecstatic," Argyll said. A quirky story.

ITN Source | December 7, 2004

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