World elephant polo and all that…

By A Staff Reporter

The local National Parks team, captained by Ram Prit Yadav, made a clean sweep at the 18th Annual World Elephant Polo Championships (WEPA) which was held at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge from 6th to 12th December. The experienced locals beat the Chivas Regal South African team, captained by Peter Premice, 6-4 to win the coveted Tiger Tops WEPA Trophy. This will have made up for their disappointing performance last year when the National Parks failed to make it through to the semi finals. They then went on to convincingly win the Tiger Mountain All Nepal Challenge, a match which is played by mahouts on their own elephants, beating the Tiger Tops team 5-4. The host team, captained by Kristjan Edwards, had a disappointing week as they also finished in last place in the Championships.

These two finals were a culmination of a fascinating weeks’ polo, which resulted in the International Tigresses, captained by Margie McDougal, securing 3rd place after losing to the National Parks in the semi final. This result, which equals their position in the 1998 Championships, establishes this all ladies team as one of the premier teams in the sport today. The ladies professionalism and sportsmanship was further recognised when they received the Chivas Regal Golden Moment Award for their many examples of skillful play during their 3rd/4th play off match against Tiger Mountain India which they won 7-3.   The Tiger Mountain India team, captained by Jim Edwards Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Tiger Mountain Group, were disappointed not to defend the title they won in 1997 but were delighted that Yuvraj and Yuvrani Vikramaditya Singh of Kashmir were able to make their debut appearance at WEPA.

As per the new two league system at WEPA, the remaining four teams competed for the WEPA Amateur Chivas Regal Quaiche Cup. This cup was won 4-3 by the Titanic Tracks from Chile, captained by Richard Croft-Baker in a closely contested final against the Screwy Tuskers, an American team captained by Alf Erickson. This match was of particular importance to the American team as it was the first time they had ever reached a final of the WEPA Championships. Despite losing, they did not go away empty handed as they were awarded the Best Dressed trophy donated by the British Gurkha Gladiators for their beautifully colour coordinated polo uniforms. Tiger Tops Tuskers, who were unable to offset their 10 goal handicap, lost 10-7 to the British Gurkha Gladiators in the 3rd/4th play off in the WEPA Amateur Chivas Regal Quaiche Cup. This match was a classic example of how fortunes change from one year to the next as this match to decide the bottom two places of the Championships was a repeat of last years final.

This year the participants of the WEPA Championships were treated to a week of great polo as well as romance, Mongolian wrestling and successful fundraising. Following his defeat in the WEPA final Peter Orentice, as 12 year veteran of WEPA, put his disappointment behind him and proposed to his girlfriend Sam Autie whilst out on elephant safari exploring the Royal Chitwan National Park. On the final day Khan Ganhuyag, the Mongolian National wrestling champion challenged the polo players to a wrestling match, all of which he surprisingly won! During a moving ceremony Richard Croft-Baker and the Titanic Tracks presented a cheque to the Tiger Tops Swissair Pre School for Us$15,000. This money is a result of tireless fundraising throughout the year on behalf of Richard and his team and will now enable many hundred disadvantaged children in the Chitwan area to receive an education.

The World Elephant Polo Association Championships is a annual invitational event arranged by Tiger Tops. It is played on the polo field adjacent to Meghauly airport on the edge of Royal Chitwan National Park. Each game consists of two chukkas of ten minutes playing time using elongated sticks over two metres in length and a regular polo ball. The World Championships as attracted Sweta Singh Miss Nepal 1999, international media including a Trans World Sports film crew and many journalists and photographers from USA, Italy and UK.

Rafael hotels eyes Nepal

Rafael Hotels South Asia Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture between Monaco-based Rafael group Hoteliers and Indian Hotel and Health Resorts (IHHR), is planning to set up hotels in the SAARC countries as a part of their expansion strategy, a top company official said.

“We are looking at many destinations and Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives are among those. Plans are afoot to set up hotels or become a partner in owning companies, we are studying all other options and will fanalise soon,” George Rafael, managing director of Rafael group Hoteliers said in an interview.

“Our long-term objective is to become a presence to reckon with in the South Asian hospitality circuit, especially in the Indian sub-continent,” he said.

Though Rafael declined to disclose the amount they will be investing in the SAARC countries project saying it was too soon to say on that.

“Once business starts growing additional investment will be pumped in the joint venture, he said. (PTI)

 Y2K ready

By A Staff Reporter

Hotel De L’Annapurna has been in the process of updating it existing hardware to be Y2K compliant since 1998. The hotel has spent a huge amount and have taken steps to ensure that our internal services will not be affected during the roll over to 1st January 2000, says a hotel’s press release.

Regarding hotel’s services like telephone exchange system, lift system and other microprocessor chip embedded systems are all Y2K compliant. Also the hotel would like to share with its customers regarding perishabie items, like fuel, gas are in the stock for two months on premises.

This has been the challenge faced by IT Department and they have been successful in completing the tasks assigned to them by our Corporate IT Department.

The hotel hopes that no major break downs will take place which will jeopardize the tourist inflow during the change of the Century.

 Historic sites visit not free any more

Lalitpur Sub-Municipal Corporation is to start charging tourist entry fees of Rs 200 per head at seven historic sites in the Sub-Municipal areas from January 1,2000.

The seven sites are Keshavnarayan Chowk, Mool Chowk, Sundar Chowk, Rudravarna Mahavihar, Kumbheshwar temple, Mahaboudha and Acheshwar.

The decision to this effect was taken by a meeting of the Sub-Municipal Corporation board recently.

According to information provided at a press conference today, once the entry fees are implemented, tourists will be provided with an information center, maps, postcards, toilets and rickshawas for old and incapacitated tourists.

An estimated 300,000 tourists come to Patan every year .

 (RSS)