Pune Strykers

Pune Strykers
Full name	Pune Strykers
Nickname(s)	Strikers Masters of Comeback
Founded	2011
Colors	Turquoise
Head Coach	Gundeep Singh
Assistant Coach	Rahul Singh
Manager	Mervyn Fernandis
Captain	Ken Pereira
Home Ground	PCMC Hockey Stadium, Pune (Capacity 5,000)
Best Performance	2012 – Runners-up
Top Scorer	Gurpreet Singh (12 goals)
Owner	Sai Grace Sports & Events Pvt. Ltd.
Official Website	Official Website Official Facebook Page
Home Away

Pune Strykers (abbreviated as PS) is an Indian professional hockey team based in Pune, Maharashtra that plays in the World Series Hockey. 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.^[1] PCMC Hockey Stadium in Pune is the home ground of Pune Strykers.^[2]

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.^[3] Team's penalty corner expert Gurpreet Singh is the top-scorer for the team with 12 goals.^[4]

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.^[5] Pune Strykers started their campaign with a victory over Mumbai Marines in a see-saw battle at Mahindra Hockey Stadium in Mumbai by 7–5.^[6] 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.^[7] They only managed to win two of their next six matches. With almost knocked out of the tournament they defeated table-toppers Sher-e-Punjab and Bhopal Badshahs in their final two matches. A defeat to Chennai Cheetahs 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.^[8] 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.^[9] They were dominated in the final and suffered 5–2 defeat and hence ended up at number 2 position.^[10]

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 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. 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.^[9]

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.^[11]

Team Anthem

Pune Strykers anthem is sung by Shankar Mahadevan. The lyrics are written by Mahesh Sutar and the music is composed by Nishat Chandra. The Universal Music Group is the music partner of the team.

Sponsors and Partners

The team is partnered by Gold's Gym for fitness and Café Coffee Day for on-ground hospitality. Radio City is their official Radio partner.^[12]

Administration

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

^[12]

Team Composition

The team is led by Canadian Ken Pereira and coached by Gundeep Singh.^[13]

Player	Nationality	Matches	Goals
Goal Keepers
Gurpreet Singh Guri	India	16	-
Sunny Samuel	India	11	-
Strikers
Alden D’Souza	India	7
Amol Baban Bhosale	India
Bikash Toppo	India	16	5
Birendra Lakra Sr.	India	16	1
Damandeep Singh	India	16	3
Gurvinder Singh Chandi	India
Kangujam Chinglensana Singh	India
Mario Almada	Argentina	16	6
Nikkin Thimmaiah C.A.	India	14	4
Poonacha M.G.	India
Roshan Minz	India	16	3
Mid Fielders
Alvin Alexander	India
Amardeep Ekka	India	3
Amit Gowda	India	16
Lungile Tsolekile	South Africa	16	1
Rajwinder Singh	India	7
Tyron Pereira	India	16	2
Varinderjit Singh	India	7
Vikas Pillay	India	12	2
Vikram Ramkaval Yadav	India	11	1
Defenders
Diwakar Ram	India
Gurpreet Singh	India	16	12
Ken Pereira (Captain)	Canada	16
Kuldip Singh	India	7
Simrandeep Singh Randhawa	India	15	7
Sunil Yadav	India	9
Vinod Gopi Nair	India	9

^{[14] [15]}

Fixtures and Results

2012

Goals For	47 (2.94 per match)
Goals Against	51 (3.19 per match)
Most Goals	Gurpreet Singh (12 goals) Overall Position: 4th

Statistics

Performance Details

Goals For	47 (2.94 per match)
Goals Against	51 (3.19 per match)
Most Goals	Gurpreet Singh (12 goals) Current Position: 4th

Hat-tricks

No.	Player	Opposition	Result	Season	Venue	Report
1	Gurpreet Singh4	Mumbai Marines	7 – 5	2012	Mumbai – Mahindra Hockey Stadium	1 March 2012
2	Simrandeep Singh Randhawa	Bhopal Badshahs	5 – 4	2012	Bhopal – Aishbagh Stadium	29 March 2012

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

References

See also

World Series Hockey