Pune Strykers (abbreviated as PS) was an Indian professional

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

team based in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

that played in the World Series Hockey. The team was 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 Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in ...

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 by 5 goals to 2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Team's penalty corner expert Gurpreet Singh was their top-scorer with 12 goals.

History

2012 season

Pune Strykers suffered a major setback when they lost their captain Diwakar Ram due to 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 Hockey India League is a professional fiel ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

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 Chandigarh Comets (CCO) was an Indian professional field hockey team based in Chandigarh that played in World Series Hockey. Pakistani striker Rehan Butt was the captain of the team and Harendra Singh was the coach. Sector 42 Stadium was the ...

3–1. They defeated table-toppers Sher-e-Punjab and Bhopal Badshahs in their final two matches. A defeat of Chennai Cheetahs by Mumbai Marines gave them their semi-final berth. Finishing fourth on the table, they faced Chandigarh Comets in the 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 defeated and hence ended up at number 2 position. Pune Strykers staged some of the brilliant comebacks in WSH 2012 and were often referred to as ''Masters of Comeback'', the first of which came against Mumbai Marines in their opening match. They won by 7–5 despite trailing 5–3. They managed to draw with Sher-e-Punjab (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. The greatest of all comebacks came in the semi-final against the Comets where Strykers trailed for the majority of the regulation time, but made a dramatic comeback, winning 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out.

Franchise details

Ownership

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

Team anthem

Pune Strykers anthem was 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. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (''honoris causa'' degree) by Birmingham Ci ...

. 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 Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

was the music partner of the team.

Administration

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

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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

Team composition

Fixtures and results

2012

Statistics

Hat-tricks

:⁴ Player scored 4 goals

References

{{Reflist World Series Hockey teams Sport in Pune 2011 establishments in Maharashtra Field hockey in Maharashtra