Bangkok Bank trample Mercedes on way to glory

After five days of fun festivities and elephant polo that had sixteen teams from all over the world participating in it, including Thai supermodels, New Zealand All Black rugby players and Tiffany Show Pattaya, the final offered plenty of memorable moments and new champions.  After the shock loss of last year’s winners King Power earlier in the week, the final had two stellar teams, first timers Bangkok Bank (BBL), captained by former Olympian James Manclark, and Mercedes, captained by Niffy Winter, head to head in a thrilling match. 

With the crowd expecting an easy win for the experienced Mercedes team, Bangkok Bank looked strong early on in the first chukker with the combined offensive might of 73-year-old veteran player Manclark and his younger team-mates, fellow Scotsman Alister Archibald and Michael Goodwin. Mercedes star polo players, Winter and the rock solid defence of the Goetz brothers Hugo and Dirk, saw the Bangkok Bank team on the defensive but BBL still managed to outmanoeuvre and outplay the German team to finish the first half leading by one point 8-9. 

BBL’s Alister Archibald received nearly all the scoring glory in the second chukker, batting in three goals for his team. Manclark served up surgically precise assists, and fellow professional polo player Goodwin provided the same impenetrable wall in front of the goal that kept the Mercedes team on the defence for most of the game. The final score was 13-10 to novice team Bangkok Bank. 

The exciting event has not only been about fun and games – a generous sum of Bt4.3 million was raised for various elephant charity projects at the Anantara Hua Hin gala dinner which hosted a gathering of top dignitaries and well known celebrities the previous night. 

     Final leaderboard:  1. Bangkok Bank; 2. Mercedes; 3. King Power; 4. Audemars Piguet; 5. Rueang Chang; 6. Sara Story Design; 7. PTT; 8. Johnnie Walker Blue Label; 9. Pricewaterhouse Coopers; 10. Whisgars; 11. Citi; 12. Mekhong; 13. Anantara Hotels, Resort & Spas; 14. CDD The Devil; 15. Arabian Knights; 16. Tiffany Show Pattaya.