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. 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.
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. Karnataka opened their account against Chandigarh Comets with a 3–1 victory at home. 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.
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. They lost 4–1 from Punjab who went on to the final to become champions. Majority of the team's goals came through their penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa, including two hat-tricks against Chandigarh Comets and Bhopal Badshahs.
Franchisee details Ownership
Sporting Ace (a part of the Zentrum Group) owned the Karnataka Lions.
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.
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.
Team composition
PlayerNationalityMatchesGoalsGoalkeepersDevesh Chauhan 15 -Jagdeep Dayal 12 -StrikersAmar Aiyamma2Arjun Halappa (captain) 123Dhanraj Pillay61Jarnail Singh 152Naveen Kumar123Robert Alcantara7S. K. UthappaVinayak Bijwad 153MidfieldersAdnan Maqsood15Arjun Antil15Deepak Kullu61Gursev Singh 13Ignace TirkeyMohd Rodzhanizam Bin Mat Radzi81Nagalingaswamy B.4Nitin Kumar 15Ravipal Singh146Sommanna C.K.15DefendersAbhishek Singh12Deepak Singh4 Kullu121Len Aiyappa1213Sandeep SinghSandeep Singh (U-18)151Zeeshan Ashraf14
Fixtures and results 2012 Goals for35 (2.33 per match)Goals against44 (2.93 per match)Most goals Len Aiyappa (13) Position: 3rd No.DateScoreOpponentVenueReport12 March2 - 3Delhi WizardsDelhiMatch 423 March1 - 6Sher-e-PunjabJalandharMatch 635 March1 - 3Bhopal BadshahsBangaloreMatch 1146 March3 - 2Chandigarh CometsBangaloreMatch 1458 March1 - 2Mumbai MarinesBangaloreMatch 16610 March5 - 3Chennai CheetahsChennaiMatch 21712 March2 - 3Pune StrykersPuneMatch 25816 March4 - 2Mumbai MarinesMumbaiMatch 32917 March1 - 4Chennai CheetahsBangaloreMatch 341021 March3 - 2Pune StrykersBangaloreMatch 401123 March2 - 1Sher-e-PunjabBangaloreMatch 421224 March3 - 1Delhi WizardsBangaloreMatch 441327 March5 - 2Bhopal BadshahsBhopalMatch 501429 March1 - 6Chandigarh CometsChandigarhMatch 53151 April1 - 4Sher-e-PunjabBangaloreSemi-final 1 Position in league phase: 3rdSemi-finalists
Statistics +Performance summarySeasonMatchesWonDrawnLostWin% 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 detailsGoals for35 (2.33 per match)Goals against44 (2.93 per match)Most Goals Len Aiyappa (13 goals) Current Position: 3rd
+Performance by oppositionsOppositionMatchesWonDrawnLostForAgainstWin%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