Queen’s Cup Pink Polo Tournament, a unique family experience

December 3, 2014

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Queen’s Cup Pink Polo Tournament, a unique family experience

The Thai Polo & Equestrian Club will be holding its sixth annual Queen’s Cup Pink Polo Tournament on 14 December. The charity event, with funds raised going to the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer, located at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok.

The Pink Polo tournament is a ladies only event which is hosted by Mrs Nunthinee Tanner, well known as the first female polo player in Thailand and co-owner of the Thai Polo and Equestrian Club, and jointly organized with Dr Kris Chatamra, the founder and director of the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer.

The event, as the name suggests, stresses pink as the colour of the day, with the clubhouse decked out in pink. Spectators are encouraged to wear pink to show their support for the fight against breast cancer.

In addition to the sporting activities, the Queen’s Cup Pink Polo day provides a popular social side with guests and spectators enjoying activities for all the family, including games at sponsors’ pavilions, pony rides for children, a fashion show on horseback, horse jumping show, and polo lessons for children as well as a children’s polo match.

Set on more than 2,000 rai of picturesque grounds to the east of Pattaya, the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club boasts three full-sized, international standard polo playing fields as well as two practice grounds, and stabling for more than 250 horses.

The brainchild of polo enthusiasts Harald Link (President of the Southeast Asian Equestrian Federation) and Mrs Nunthinee Tanner, the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club opened in 2005 and has since grown in size and stature in recent years.

The clubhouses were designed by Nunthinee Tanner, while the Chukka Bar is an exact replica of the famed polo bar in the Langham Hotel in London.

Also opened in 2005, the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer has quickly grown into the country’s pre-eminent unit of excellence in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Dr Kris Chatamra, a surgeon and oncologist with over 30 years experience in the United Kingdom, has put together a strong team and sophisticated advanced equipment that is capable of efficiently treating patients, conducting clinical research and training Thai doctors involved in the fight against breast cancer.

It is a cause Nunthinee Tanner has supported heavily over the last six years through the annual Pink Polo tournament. “We hope our event increases awareness of the threat which breast cancer poses to many women. At the same time, we hope our event will also introduce a new generation to the exciting game of polo,” said Mrs Tanner.

Current statistics show breast cancer is the leading cancer among women in Thailand. In the words of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, the Center for Breast Cancer should be “a sanctuary for women in need.”

Dr Kris Chatamra’s experience as a senior clinician and an internal examiner of the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK, provided a strong basis for a plan to be pursued, which would combine the right philosophy, approach and team. The center’s remit was to provide a state of the art service for women with breast cancer that would ensure a fast, efficient and cohesive diagnostic and treatment service.

The aim of the Queen Sirikit Center would be to develop into a unit of excellence on par with any international breast cancer facility, comparable in patient management and also in its clinical research programme.

Her Majesty’s keen interest and support as Patron of this project was clearly illustrated in the gracious personal donation of two million baht and the bestowal of the center’s name, ‘The Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer.’

The annual Pink Polo tournament is an important and well-regarded part of the annual social calendar with spectators including members of the Thai Royal Family, government officials and ambassadors, celebrities, business executives, sports enthusiasts, and local and international media.

Location: Thai Polo & Equestrian Club, 111 Polo Drive, Moo 9, Pong, Banglamung, Chonburi or check our website: www.thai–polo–club.com

GPS Coordinates : N 12.89130 , E 100.99340

Date/Time: Sunday 14 December 2014, from 11:00am until late afternoon.