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During the last week of January, an International Polo Tournament was held at the Siam Polo Club grounds next to the Horseshoe Point Country club a short way out of Pattaya.
The event featured teams from Thailand, England, Germany and Dubai, although not all teams exclusively featured nationals of their respective countries, e.g. Thailand had a player from Argentina and England had a German player.
The tournament was played on a knockout basis with Thailand playing England on the Tuesday, Germany playing Dubai on the Thursday, the 3rd place contest taking place on the Saturday and the final on the Sunday.
My press colleague Allan again invited me to accompany him on the days we covered the event, namely the Tuesday Thailand-England game and the Sunday final which also featured a ‘fun’ Elephant polo match and a ladies event (not on elephants). This again gave me close-up access of the matches, and permitted me to mingle with the VIPs of Thai society on the finals day.
Not that access on the Tuesday would have been a problem for anyone as only a very small crowd turned up.
The match itself was very one-sided. For some unknown reason Thailand were given a one goal start, which they definitely did not need, going on to win the match quite easily.
Although we did not attend the Thursday and Saturday matches, our ‘B’ team of Graham and Foo did, and they sent us back their reports, according to which the Germany-Dubai contest was a very close and rather aggressive match with one of the Dubai players having to be substituted after sustaining an injury, and the final score 7 all, Dubai then winning in extra time with a ‘golden goal’.
Their report of the 3rd place final (England v Germany in case you haven’t worked that out) stated that although the score, 12-6 to Germany, would indicate another England massacre, the actual game was much closer than that and was played in a good spirit.
So the ‘A’ team then returned to the polo ground early on the Sunday afternoon to find the ground transformed since our previous visit. There were a plethora of tents and food stalls around the main arena, which itself was roped off and entry only permitted to VIPs (e.g. us), the ‘plebs’ having been directed to a grandstand on the opposite side of the pitch.
As we arrived the elephant polo match was just being got ready with each elephant being mounted by a player carrying a very long handled mallet and also by a mahout to control the beast.
This contest took place on a subset of the main pitch, and was great fun to watch, although the somewhat lumbering nature of the steeds made a serious match out of the question - Oh and the ground was well watered and fertilised in time for the main event.
After a short ladies event, the ground was then prepared for the grand final, at which time the guests of honour arrived as well as the cream of Thai ladies society, all dressed in a fashion that would not have been out of place at Royal Ascot.
After making the opening speeches, the two teams were then presented and the match commenced.
This was played over 6 chukkas each of 7 minutes duration and at the end of each the riders took a short break and changed to fresh horses.
The match itself was very exciting, veering from end to end with never more than two goals between the scores, Thailand eventually winning 10-9 and in fact Dubai scoring a 10th goal just after the final whistle blew, with rendered it invalid.
Afterwards the prizes were presented to all the participating teams and we all adjourned to the clubhouse for a buffet supper.
Although this was my first visit to a polo match, I found it a very exciting sport to watch, but of course my view was enhanced by my close proximity to the action, for which again, Allan, my thanks.
A selection of photos from both the Tuesday match, the Elephant Polo game and the grand final follow here.
To view any of the above photos in full size, just click on it.
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