Four days of fun, festivities and competition featuring 50 street elephants and sixteen teams, including Thai supermodels, New Zealand All Black rugby players and the Tiffany Show Pattaya, saw the 2014 King’s Cup Elephant tournament offer up plenty of memorable moments and new champions.
Held from August 28-31 at the VR Sports Club on the outskirts of Bangkok, the second day of the tournament witnessed two thousand local school children attend the event on what has become known as Chang Noi Day (Little Elephant Day). Children from local schools all over Bangkok were invited to get up close with the elephants and learn more about their national animal. A range of educational walks, games and activities all teaching the benefits of elephant conservation were also put on by the organizers.
King Power receive the King’s Cup trophy from the HM the King of Thailand’s Royal representative, H.E. Privy Councilor, Rear Admiral, Mom Luang Usni Pramoj.
Day three saw a change of tack and was the cue for fashion as Ladies Day unfolded, or as it is now unofficially known, the ‘new Ascot’ of Bangkok. Ladies from all walks of life dressed to impress with the best attired lady winning a week long holiday at NIYAMA Resort in the Maldives. The day was attended by well known celebrities and socialites such as Sonya Couling, Cindy Bishop and Kathy Kingpayome.
On the field the ladies were also trying their best to impress but the all-female Mercedes Benz team lost out in a thrilling penalty shoot-out to the Louis Roederer Hong Kong Team.
A thrilling contest between Mercedes-Benz and Louis-Roederer unfolds.
The three days of group matches saw many exciting games and close outcomes but the field was eventually whittled down and the final match on day four placed two stellar teams – Audemars Piguet and King Power Duty Free against each other in yet another closely fought battle for the 13th King’s Cup title. Audemars Piguet featured the talented Kalaan brothers, Uday and Angad, along with Marc Williams, while King Power, captained by Tom Claytor, included in their ranks Nattapong Pratumlee and Satid Wongkraso.
Fashion police hand out tickets for style on Ladies Day.
The highly anticipated final was presided over by the King of Thailand’s Royal representative, H.E. Privy Councilor, Rear Admiral, Mom Luang Usni Pramoj.
The match was so close that it went to a penalty shootout and when that did not yield a goal a ‘sudden death’ play-off was required to determine the winners. Up stepped Satid Wongkraso to score the winning shot and become the hero for King Power as they emerged as this year’s worthy champions.
School children enjoyed the opportunity to get up close with the street elephants.
The exciting event was not only about fun and games however – a generous sum of THB 4.5 million was raised for various elephant charity projects bringing the total sum raised to since the tournament’s inception to THB 28.7 million.
