Heavy Competition Rocks Thai Elephant Polo (Photos)

Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they vie for the ball during the King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament, March 8 in Bangkok. Photo: Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press

BANGKOK — The action was hot and heavy — especially heavy — as competition began Thursday in Thailand’s King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament, a quirky charity event whose proceeds benefit the beasts who are the games’ stars.

The game deviates from standard polo in several aspects, aside from the mounts weighing upward of 2,200 kilograms (5,000 pounds). Two people — the player and a mahout, or trainer, sit astride each elephant. The mallets are about two meters (6.6 feet) long, and women are allowed to use both hands to wield them.

Advertisement

Elephants are the de facto national animal of Thailand, and for a time even adorned the country’s flag. But in the past few decades, they have fallen on hard times, as deforestation has deprived them of a habitat where they can roam wild and led to massive unemployment in logging, the sector where tamed elephants could once earn an honest living.

The tournament’s organizer, a Thai-owned international hotel chain, say that since the games began in 2001 — originally in the seaside resort city of Hua Hin but now in the capital, Bangkok — they have raised almost $950,000 for projects benefiting Thailand’s elephants, “including housing for the mahouts and families, shelters for the elephants and a mobile blood centrifuge and elephant ambulance for the Thai Elephant Conservation Center.”

Advertisement

The playing beasts can count on a special treat after each match, sugar cane or a nutritious mix of molasses and rock salt in rice balls, to replace depleted vitamins and minerals.

AP18067292157247
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they play during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067291062894
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they vie for the ball during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament Thursday in Bangkok. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067291539969
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they vie for the ball during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. The annual elephant polo charity event raises funds for projects that better the lives of Thailand’s wild and domesticated elephant population. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067292426417
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they move to play polo during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067294674141
Elephants are fed with fruits before an elephant polo match in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067294427993
Elephants with mahouts on board are fed with fruits before an elephant polo match in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067293160430
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they vie for the ball during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Thursday in Bangkok. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067293700350
A polo player sitting behind a mahout chooses a polo mallet during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067294187213
Elephants are fed with fruits before an elephant polo match in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067295195601
An elephant is fed by children before an elephant polo match in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067295401770
A mahout sprays water to an elephant after an elephant polo match in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067292649404
Polo players behind mahouts sit astride each elephants as they play polo during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit
AP18067293951611
A Thai mahout chooses a polo mallet for a polo player during the King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, March 8, 2018. AP Photo: Sakchai Lalit