Hyderabad: With high-profile professional sport paused due to the coronavirus crisis, SNTV take a look back at some of the bizarre and little known amateur 'sports' and competitions.
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The ancient sport of Elephant Polo was revived once more in 2002 with the second King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament in Thailand's seaside resort of Hua Hin.
Played according to World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) rules, the Hua Hin tournament, featured teams from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Australia, Singapore, Dubai, Thailand with top players from Argentina, Germany, UK, US taking part.
Elephant Polo is played with two teams of three elephants and two 'chukkas' of ten minutes playing time. Each elephant carries a polo player and a mahout. While the mahout directs the elephant using his voice, hands and feet, the game's umpire sits and oversees the play from a wooden howdah on the back of the largest elephant.
Elephant Polo was initially played with footballs but the giant beasts were more interested in bursting the soccer balls rather than chasing them.
Besides the much obvious difference in size, Elephant Polo is also much slower in pace and requires much more coordination between the animal, mahout and the player.
One major problem is the issue of elephant dung, which can cause etiquette problems if the ball lands in it. WEPA rules deem that the ball can still be played so to avoid any ungentlemanly mess, rules allow for a jumbo pooper scooper to run around the pitch and keep it free of jumbo debris.
While fun is an important part of the event there is a more serious side with one of the aims of the entertainment to raise funds towards elephant conservation efforts.
