Pune Strykers (abbreviated as PS) is an Indian professional hockey team based in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

that plays in the

World Series Hockey World Series Hockey (WSH) was a professional league for field hockey competition in India. It was organised by Indian Hockey Federation and Nimbus Sports with the objective to reinvigorate hockey in India. It was contested among eight franchis ...

. Currently, Canadian Ken Pereira is the captain of the team and is coached by Gundeep Singh. The team is owned by Sai Grace Sports & Events Private Limited.

PCMC Hockey Stadium PCMC Hockey Stadium also known as The Major Dhyanachand Stadium is a field hockey stadium in the city of Pune, India. It has a seating capacity of 5,000 people. It serves as the home ground of the hockey franchisee based in Pune Strykers, for ...

is the home ground of Pune Strykers. Pune Strykers ended up as the runner-up of the inaugural edition of World Series Hockey. They lost to

Sher-e-Punjab Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

by 5 goals to 2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Team's penalty corner expert Gurpreet Singh is the top-scorer for the team with 12 goals.

History

2012 season

Pune Strykers suffered a major set back when they lost their captain and ace drag-flicker Diwakar Ram to a wrist injury just before the commencement of the tournament. Pune Strykers started their campaign with a victory over Mumbai Marines in a see-saw battle at

Mahindra Hockey Stadium Mahindra Hockey Stadium is a field hockey stadium at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is the home of the Mumbai Marines of the World Series Hockey and Mumbai Magicians of the Hockey India League. It was also the home venue of the Maratha Warriors ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

by 7–5. They continued with a victory over Delhi Wizards but drew next three matches. Their undefeated run came to an end when they lost to Chandigarh Comets 3–1. They only won two of their next six matches. With almost knocked out of the tournament they defeated table-toppers

and

Bhopal Badshahs Bhopal Badshahs (BB) was hockey team from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh that competes in the World Series Hockey championship. The captain of the team is Sameer Dad, part of the Indian National Hockey Team. Bhopal Badshahs was coached by Vasudevan Bh ...

in their final two matches. A defeat to

Chennai Cheetahs Chennai Cheetahs (CCH) is a field hockey team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, that plays in World Series Hockey. It is owned by Chennai Sports Organisers Private Limited (CSO). The team is captained by the Australian Brent Livermore and co ...

by Mumbai Marines gave them their semi-final berth. Finishing number fourth on the table, they faced the first positioned team in the league phase, Chandigarh Comets, in the second semi-final. Down by 4–1, they struck thrice in the final 10 minutes to extend the match into the penalty shoot-out which they won by 3–2 and entered the final to face Sher-e-Punjab. They were dominated in the final and suffered 5–2 defeat and hence ended up at number 2 position. Pune Strykers staged some of the brilliant comebacks in WSH 2012 due to the likes of Mario Almada and were often referred to as ''Masters of Comeback'', the first of which came against Mumbai Marines in their opening match in which they won by 7–5 despite of trailing by 5–3. They managed to draw with

(3–3) from 3–1. In a must win situation, they lagged behind Bhopal Badshahs by 4 goals to 1 but ended up winning by 5–4. But the greatest of all comebacks came in the semi-final against the Comets where Strykers trailed 4-1 for the majority of the regulation time and then 0-2 in the penalty-shootout but made a dramatic comeback, winning 3–2 in penalty shoot-outs after finishing 4–4 after the 70 minutes.

Franchisee Details

Ownership

Sai Grace Sports and Events Private Limited (SGSEPL) is the owner of the Pune franchise. The director of SGSEPL, Manoj Choudhary is the promoter of Jewel Products, one of India’s leading corporate gifting and innovation companies.

Team Anthem

Pune Strykers anthem is sung by

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tam ...

. The lyrics are written by Mahesh Sutar and the music is composed by Nishadh Chandra. The

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

is the music partner of the team.

Sponsors and Partners

The team is partnered by

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training equi ...

for fitness and

Café Coffee Day Café Coffee Day (CCD) is an Indian multinational chain of coffeehouses headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It is a subsidiary of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited. Internationally, CCDs are present in Austria, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Nep ...

for on-ground hospitality. Radio City is their official Radio partner.

Administration

*Owners - Manoj Choudhary (Sai Grace Sports & Events Pvt. Ltd.) *

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

- Jagdeep Nanjappa *Manager - Mervyn Fernandis *Trainer - Simon Pachal *Video analyst - Major (rtd). K.R. Singh *Physio - Meetu Mangalvedkar *Coach - Gundeep Singh *Assistant coach - Rahul Singh

History

2012 season

Franchisee Details

Ownership

Team Anthem

Sponsors and Partners

Administration

Team Composition

Fixtures and Results

2012

Statistics

Hat-tricks

References

See also