Karbi Anglong, Assam, November 14, 2017: The 4th edition of the Elephant Cup Football Tournament – organised annually by WTI in partnership with Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF), the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), and the Assam Forest Department (AFD) – kicked off at the Nohorsala Playground on November 10. Thirty teams from the Silonijan Forest Range are participating in the tournament, which aims to ameliorate local attitudes, particularly among the youth, towards elephant conservation. The participating teams are leading a signature campaign to raise conservation awareness among local communities and have all pledged to help protect the Asian elephant, India’s National Heritage Animal.

Teams participating in the Elephant Cup have pledged to help protect the Asian elephant, India’s National Heritage Animal.

The event to mark the start of the tournament was attended by the village head, Guadam Teron (SGB) and WTI team members. The first match was played between last year’s champions Dokhora Football Club and Ujal Club, with Dokhora emerging the winner by two goals.

WTI has used popular local sports to build ties with local communities in several parts of the country. An Asian Elephant Football Tournament was held in Kochugaon, Assam in 2014 to spread awareness about the plight of elephants in Manas. In June last year, the renovation of a football ground in Bibragre village, Meghalaya, led villagers to set aside six hectares of community forest land for a Village Reserve Forest. A rural Kho Kho tournament was also held in Gondia, Maharshtra in September last year.