U.S. elephant polo team off to shaky start

CHIANG SAEN, Thailand, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The first U.S. elephant polo team to enter one of the sport's major tournaments in Thailand learned many lessons, some of them stinky.

Known as the Capitol Pachyderms, three women and two men between the ages of 25 and 30 set out for Chiang Saen, Thailand, last week for the King's Cup Elephant Polo Championship, the Washington Post reported Monday.

U.S. captain Kimberly Zenz, also a traditional horse polo player, told the Post no one on the team had ever played on an elephant before, so the first tournament was a learning experience.

"We started from zero," Zenz said. "We practiced on top of a swing set with mallets we made from Home Depot."

As an example of lessons learned, Zenz noted how her mount, a 4-ton female elephant named Thong Kao, scared away a pursuing Italian challenger when she "let rip a hail of dung."

As the week went on, the U.S. team began to click and almost upset one of the top British teams with a riveting 5-3 finish, the newspaper said.