Tue Dec 7, 2004 11:37 AM GMT
Scots snare World Elephant Polo title
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LONDON (Reuters)
Reuters
Scotland can finally declare themselves sporting heavyweights after winning the Elephant Polo World Championship in Nepal.
The Scots snared the 2004 title after a week-long tournament in the Himalayan kingdom's Royal Chitawan National Park, attended by crowds of up to 5,000 people.
"It's fantastic for Scotland -- we don't normally win a huge number of tournaments these days," team captain the Duke of Argyll told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Scots beat local favourites National Parks of Nepal, 12-6 on Friday last week, winning back a crown they held in 2001, in a game where a foul is declared if an elephant picks up the ball with its trunk.
Elephant polo is similar to normal polo but the pitch is smaller and the four competitors on each side play two 10-minute "chukkas". Elephants are controlled by "mahouts" or drivers, while the polo players wield long bamboo sticks to hit the ball.
The Duke said the elephants, usually females from the same herd, clearly enjoy the game.
"They do get very excited -- they put their trunks up in the air and start screaming their heads off as they charge down the field," he said.
British aristocrats started the game in India around the turn of the 20th century and it was revived in 1982 in Nepal, with the latest tournament attracting teams from across Asia, including Hong Kong and Thailand.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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