The second day of the 2004 King’s Cup
Elephant Polo Tournament belonged to elephant polo rookies the
New Zealand PricewaterhouseCoopers All Blacks.
The late afternoon game between the rugby greats and Mullis
Capital Thailand was a game of natural flair and sporting
aptitude. Flamboyantly insouciant before the game started, their
Hakka was a prequel to their determined competitiveness. Once on
the field, the All Blacks demonstrated their world-class
sportsmanship, finding their elephant polo feet with remarkable
ease, their physical strength and wrists of iron helping them to
dominant the second chukka. 4-1 down at the end of the first
chukka, they rallied against Mullis’ experienced horse polo team
of MacMillan, Khan and Wyatt, bringing the score to 4-3 with
less than 90 seconds remaining on the clock. An equalising
opportunity laid itself wide open in the closing 10 seconds, but
a choke at the last hurdle, saw the gong sound and Mullis the
victors.
Earlier in the afternoon, another team of rookies, Kuoni UK put
on a brave show against one of the top-seeded teams, Scotland’s
St Andrews House. Facing players who in their heyday had played
off +5, +4 and +2 handicaps, the newcomers which included Thai
entrepreneur William Heinecke and the Faroe Islands’ first
elephant polo player Rogve Bordoy, put up a good fight but the
Scots cruised to a 7-2 win.
Thailand’s Mobile Easy team gave an accomplished performance
against double King’s Cup champions Mercedes Benz Thailand.
However, despite excellent tactical play by Omsin Pratummalee
and precision polo play by his team-mates Tom Claytor, Aktanai
Chutinthranond and Argentinian Churo Pellegrino, Mercedes had
the resilience of champions and took the match 10-6.
In the day’s other games Sandalford cruised to a 9-2 win over
the Screwless Tuskers; American Express Thailand beat
Australia’s Element 6-1; and in the day’s first Scotland vs
England encounter, Chivas Regal saw off British Airways Cavalry
6-4.
Wednesday’s games start at 10am and conclude with the New
Zealand PricewaterhouseCoopers All Blacks playing the Screwless
Tuskers at 5pm. Full schedule details are available online at
www.thaielepolo.com,
Programme and
pre-tournament press.
Media contact:
Diana Moxon
Email:
dmoxon@minornet.com
Tel (direct): 66 (0) 2 877 7495
Tel (cell): 66 (0)1 904 7344
