Karnataka Lions

Karnataka Lions

Full name	Karnataka Lions
Nickname(s)	The Lions
Founded	2011
Home ground	Bangalore Hockey Stadium, Bangalore (Capacity 7,000)
Personnel
Captain	Arjun Halappa
Coach	Jude Felix
Owner	Sporting Ace Pvt. Ltd.
Website	Official website
Home Away

Karnataka Lions (abbreviated as KL) was a professional field hockey team based in Bangalore, Karnataka that played in the World Series Hockey. The team was led by Indian hockey player Arjun Halappa and coached by former Indian captain Jude Felix. The team was owned by Sporting Ace Pvt. Ltd. (Zentrum Group). Bangalore Hockey Stadium was the home ground of Karnataka Lions.

Karnataka Lions ended-up as the semi-finalists in the inaugural edition of WSH after being knocked out by Sher-e-Punjab in the semi-final. ^[1] They finished third in the group stage. Team's penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa was the top scorer for the team and third overall in the season with 13 goals in 12 matches. ^[2]

History

2012 season

Karnataka Lions had a bad start to the tournament with three consecutive defeats against Delhi Wizards, Sher-e-Punjab and Bhopal Badshahs. ^[3] Karnataka opened their account against Chandigarh Comets with a 3–1 victory at home. ^[4] Their next five matches fetched them just two victories and three defeats and were seemed to be out of the tournament as they lied at the bottom of the table. They won four in a row in a must win situation and qualified for the semi-finals. They played Chandigarh Comets in their last league match, where they had a big 6–1 defeat. ^[5]

Karnataka Lions faced Sher-e-Punjab at their home ground in the semi-final. Karnataka was defeated convincingly despite getting an earlier lead and hence brought their campaign in 2012's season of World Series Hockey to an end. ^[6] They lost 4–1 from Punjab who went on to the final to become champions. ^[7] Majority of the team's goals came through their penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa, including two hat-tricks against Chandigarh Comets and Bhopal Badshahs. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Franchisee details

Ownership

Logo of Sporting Ace Pvt. Ltd.

Sporting Ace (a part of the Zentrum Group) owned the Karnataka Lions. ^[11]

Sponsors

Karnataka Lions have managed to rope in XAGE Mobile as their title & platinum sponsor, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd. (NICE) as the gold sponsor, Slazenger as their equipment partner, Kyazoonga.com as ticketing partners and Radio City as radio partners. Fluid Media, Highlight Advertising, and RVR16 managed the creative duties for the team. Sporting Ace haf in-house managed all the media marketing campaign. ^[12]

Theme song

Theme song for Karnataka Lions has been composed by National award winning music director Vidyasagar. Lyrics have been written mainly in Kannada by Shabbir Ahmed. ^[13]

Team composition

^[14]

Player	Nationality	Matches	Goals
Goalkeepers
Devesh Chauhan	India	15	-
Jagdeep Dayal	India	12	-
Strikers
Amar Aiyamma	India	2
Arjun Halappa (captain)	India	12	3
Dhanraj Pillay	India	6	1
Jarnail Singh	India	15	2
Naveen Kumar	India	12	3
Robert Alcantara	Malaysia	7
S. K. Uthappa	India
Vinayak Bijwad	India	15	3
Midfielders
Adnan Maqsood	Pakistan	15
Arjun Antil	India	15
Deepak Kullu	India	6	1
Gursev Singh	India	13
Ignace Tirkey	India
Mohd Rodzhanizam Bin Mat Radzi	Malaysia	8	1
Nagalingaswamy B.	India	4
Nitin Kumar	India	15
Ravipal Singh	India	14	6
Sommanna C.K.	India	15
Defenders
Abhishek Singh	India	12
Deepak Singh	India	4
Inocent Kullu	India	12	1
Len Aiyappa	India	12	13
Sandeep Singh	India
Sandeep Singh (U-18)	India	15	1
Zeeshan Ashraf	Pakistan	14

Fixtures and results

2012

Goals for	35 (2.33 per match)
Goals against	44 (2.93 per match)
Most goals	Len Aiyappa (13) Position: 3rd

No.	Date	Score	Opponent	Venue	Report
1	2 March	2 - 3	Delhi Wizards	Delhi	Match 4
2	3 March	1 - 6	Sher-e-Punjab	Jalandhar	Match 6
3	5 March	1 - 3	Bhopal Badshahs	Bangalore	Match 11
4	6 March	3 - 2	Chandigarh Comets	Bangalore	Match 14
5	8 March	1 - 2	Mumbai Marines	Bangalore	Match 16
6	10 March	5 - 3	Chennai Cheetahs	Chennai	Match 21
7	12 March	2 - 3	Pune Strykers	Pune	Match 25
8	16 March	4 - 2	Mumbai Marines	Mumbai	Match 32
9	17 March	1 - 4	Chennai Cheetahs	Bangalore	Match 34
10	21 March	3 - 2	Pune Strykers	Bangalore	Match 40
11	23 March	2 - 1	Sher-e-Punjab	Bangalore	Match 42
12	24 March	3 - 1	Delhi Wizards	Bangalore	Match 44
13	27 March	5 - 2	Bhopal Badshahs	Bhopal	Match 50
14	29 March	1 - 6	Chandigarh Comets	Chandigarh	Match 53
15	1 April	1 - 4	Sher-e-Punjab	Bangalore	Semi-final 1
Position in league phase: 3rd Semi-finalists

Statistics

Performance summary

Season	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win%
2012	15	7	0	8	46.67%
Home	8	4	0	4	50.00%
Away	7	3	0	4	42.86%
Overall	15	7	0	8	46.67%

Performance details

Goals for	35 (2.33 per match)
Goals against	44 (2.93 per match)
Most Goals	Len Aiyappa (13 goals) Current Position: 3rd

Performance by oppositions

Opposition	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Win%
Bhopal Badshahs	2	1	0	1	6	5	50.00%
Chandigarh Comets	2	1	0	1	4	8	50.00%
Chennai Cheetahs	2	1	0	1	6	7	50.00%
Delhi Wizards	2	1	0	1	5	4	50.00%
Mumbai Marines	2	1	0	1	5	4	50.00%
Pune Strykers	2	1	0	1	5	5	50.00%
Sher-e-Punjab	3	1	0	2	4	11	33.33%

References

1. "Sher-e-Punjab enter final of WSH". Indian Express . 2 April 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
2. "Top Scorers". World Series Hockey . Retrieved 25 May 2012.
3. "WSH: Karnataka Lions slump to third straight loss". Oneindia.in . 6 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
4. "First win for Karnataka Lions". The Hindu . 6 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
5. "WSH: Confident Chandigarh crush Karnataka Lions 6-1". First Post . 29 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
6. "Sher-e-Punjab enter final of WSH". Indian Express . 2 April 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
7. "Sher-E-Punjab crowned WSH champions". ESPN . 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
8. "Top Scorers". World Series Hockey . Retrieved 25 May 2012.
9. "WSH: Karnataka beat Bhopal 5-2". CNN-IBN . 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
10. "Karnataka Lions beat Chandigarh Comets 3-2 in WSH". The Times of India . 6 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
11. "Suniel Shetty to lead WSH Bangalore Franchise "Karnataka Lions"". The Fans of Hockey. 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
12. "Sponsors". Karnataka Lions. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
13. "Song for the Lions". Deccan Chronicle. 22 February 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
14. "Sher-e-Punjab". World Series Hockey . Retrieved 28 February 2012.