FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10TH DECEMBER 1986

The Fifth World Elephant Polo Association Championship was played at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge in Nepal 6th - 11th December 1986. Eight international teams competed in the league point’s competition and in an exciting climax on 10th December the championship was won by His Majesty’s Government Nepal National Parks team who beat the St. Moritz Sporting Club 4-0 in a thrilling, unexpected but convincing final. The Pan Am Jumbos and the National Parks team played earlier in the day for a place in the finals as they were exactly tied on both points and goals. The favorites and unbeaten champions of four consecutive years the Tiger Tops Tuskers were beaten on the third day by the St. Moritz Sporting Club 2-1.

The traditional ladies Challenge between the Oberoi Ladies and the Tiger Tops Tigresses was won by the Tigresses 1-0. The trophy for the Best Dressed Team presented by the British Gurkhas was won by the ever smart Oberoi Ladies, their second year in succession.

Elephant Polo was first played by the Maharajas of Jaipur in the 1930s but was developed as a competitive event in 1981 with the formation of the World Elephant Polo Association at Tiger Tops. Its co-founders were James Manclark, a Scottish land owner and British bobsleigh champion, and Jim Edwards, Executive Chairman of the Tiger Mountain group and a keen Cresta rider. The game is played with the four elephants a side with each player tied to the elephant’s back with ropes. A regular size polo ball is used on a field that is 2/3rd the size of a regular polo field.  A game consists of two chukkas of ten minutes each way and the polo sticks vary between 70 and 96 inches in length depending on the size of the elephant. As usual British Gurkha officers were in charge of time keeping and Dr. Chuck McDougal, Director of Wildlife for Tiger Mountain, was the official referee on Shamshere Bahadur, Tiger Tops big mail elephant.

The new champions, the National Parks team was captained by the Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife conservation Department, Mr. B.N. Upreti, and the Warden of Royal Chitwan National Park Mr. Uday Sharma supported by Ram Prit Yadav, Kuder Gurung, Bachu Tharu and Chandra Gurung. The St. Moritz Sporting Club was captained by Urs Schwarzenbach from Switzerland who came with his beautiful wife Francesca. This hard hitting team consisted of Trevor Baines and Duncan Stuart all smartly dressed in white with a specially designed St. Moritz elephant polo logo. The team was completed by Gyamcho Wangdi and Bude Kumal. The Pan Am, London, and supported by Ken Hemrajani and K.R. Srinivasan from Pan Am Delhi.

The defending champion, previously unbeaten in four world championship, were the Tiger Tops Tuskers, captained by A.V. Jim Edwards and dressed in their smart combination of pith helmets, yellow shirts, white breeches and boots. The team consisted of Yam Gurung, Manager of Tiger Tops Lodge, Prithvi Ram Kumar and Indar Tamang. The glamorous Oberoi Ladies sponsored by by Oderoi Hotels were captained by Efale Macfarland and included Lavinia Black, the two goal women’s polo player from England and Cecilia Pleshakov an animal trainer from Marine World/Africa USA as well as Kathleen Quigley and Nancy Stone from the USA. The Tiger Tops Tigresses in khaki track suits, were captained as usual by Margie McDougal and supported by Belinda Edwards, Susanna Prichard, Iris Hawthorne and Ann Aylwin.

The two visitors teams were the Rapti, Rhinos captained by Devi Gurung of Tiger Tops and the Meghauly Mashers led by Mash Thapa, Manager of Himalayan River Exploration, with teams consisting of the many visitors invited to watch the event.

The Sixth Word Elephant Polo Association Championship promises to be an equally fun and competitive event with potential new sponsors including Scandinavian Airlines and J$B Scotch whisky. The dates have been set for 6th -11th December 1987 at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge, Nepal.

For further information please write to:

 Lisa Choegyal
Secretary $ Treasurer
World Elephant Polo Association
Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge
P. O. Box 242
Kathmandu,
NEPAL
Tel: +977-1- 4361500
Fax No:- +977-1-4361600
Email:info@tigermountain.com