Anantara’s annual elephant polo tournament has now raised more than THB50 million (US$1.4m) for Asian elephant conservation.

The latest King’s Cup event took place in Bangkok earlier this month, gathering 10 teams with more than 40 players from around the world. An impressive THB6m was raised this year, taking the total raised since the event started in 2001 to over THB50m.

The charitable funds from this year’s event will be donated to various projects, including training programmes for mahouts and vets, and projects to improve the lives of the 300 elephants in Thailand’s Surin province.

Groups benefitting from the funds include the Zoological Parks Organisation of Thailand, Thai Elephant Therapy Project and Thai Elephant Conservation Centre.

This year’s tournament also hosted hundreds of children from local schools in Bangkok to learn about and interact with elephants.