The Majestic sport of Elephant Polo, All you need to know

The Majestic sport of Elephant Polo: Elephant polo, as the title suggests, is a kind of polo contested using elephants rather than horses. It was predominantly practiced in Nepal, India’s Rajasthan, the Island nation of Sri Lanka, and Thailand, although it was also popular in England and the highlands of Scotland. Elephant polo first appeared in 1982. Over cocktails, Jim Edwards was originally approached by James Manclark with the idea of playing the sport of polo on the back of elephants. The concept was eventually pitched to acquaintances and many other polo lovers by the two British businessmen.

All you need to know about the game:

When the game originally began, a football ball was utilized, but it was immediately replaced with a conventional polo ball. The sport was practiced with a mallet and a 10-foot baton. Unlike a typical polo field, the sport elephant polo field was just one-third the length of a normal pitch. The mahouts learned that elephants were rather sluggish beasts and that a high pitch was not necessarily needed to their sluggish movements. Every elephant was mounted by a handler, who steered the mammoth, and a player, who strike the ball will guide the mahout to maneuver next.

Smaller elephants went faster, and the handlers and polo players preferred those elephants in attack positions. Despite their sluggish movement, the larger elephants obstructed and protected the score from the opposition attackers.

The World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) was founded in 1982 in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. The initial games were held on a lawn airfield near Meghauly, on the outskirts of the Nature Reserve. The co-founders, named James Manclark, a Scottish landlord and Ex- Olympic toboggan racer, and also  Jim Edwards, a proprietor developed the concept of the game ElephantPolo. 

Elephant Polo Invention:

Elephant polo was invented in India at the start of the twentieth century. The game entertained the council of the Maharaja’s Harem (Zenena) occupied. WEPA was the first major organization in contemporary times to stage the game. Moreover, the organization developed elephant polo as a sport with structured events. The sport is played using a traditional polo ball.

The poles are bamboo with a regular polo mallet on the end. The size of the stick varies depending on the size of the mammoth. However, it may be anywhere from 74 to 100 inches long. Mainly, it is quite double the size of a regular polo mallet. The animals are also controlled by their mahouts. Basically, the animals follow the commands of the competitors if they are lucky enough to understand the mahout’s dialect.

The sport was also performed in India during the yearly Elephant Fest held in the city of Jaipur, in Rajasthan. ElephantPolo was ultimately banned in 2012 due to demand from numerous activists and groups. Elephant polo, as per various accounts, has passed its cycle and is no more played elsewhere in the globe.

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