2012 World Series Hockey better known as Bridgestone World Series Hockey, abbreviated as Bridgestone WSH, was the first season of the hockey tournament World Series Hockey, a professional league for field hockey in India. The tournament was to take place from 17 December 2011 to 22 January 2012 but later was postponed to 29 February 2012 owing to Olympic qualifiers. Eight teams took part in this competition. The opening ceremony and the first match was held at Sector 42 Stadium, Chandigarh, where Bhopal Badshahs beat Chandigarh Comets 4–3.

The inaugural season of the WSH was won by Sher-e-Punjab by defeating Pune Strykers 5–2 in the final at Mahindra Hockey Stadium, Mumbai and thus became the first champions of WSH. Chandigarh Comets' drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh was named WSH Rockstar (Player of the tournament) (19 goals in 15 matches) who also shared the golden stick with Pakistan's Syed Imran Warsi for 19 goals apiece.

Venues Following eight venues will host the matches of eight franchises on a home and away basis: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bhopal, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Chennai will host the matches of eight franchises on a home and away basis. Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Delhi Bangalore Hockey Stadium, Bangalore Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, Chennai PCMC Hockey Stadium, Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune Mahindra Hockey Stadium, Mumbai Sector 42 Stadium, Chandigarh Surjeet Hockey Stadium, Jalandhar Aishbagh Stadium, Bhopal Originally, nine venues were selected and upgraded with floodlights, replay screens, and scoreboards but organisers decided not to have any matches in Hyderabad's Gachibowli Hockey Stadium.

Players

The players for the eight teams were finalized on 28 November based on the draft system.

TeamCaptainCoachBhopal BadshahsSameer DadVasudevan Baskaran Chandigarh CometsRehan ButtHarendra SinghChennai CheetahsBrent LivermoreJosé BrasaDelhi WizardsShakeel AbbasiRoelant OltmansKarnataka LionsArjun HalappaJude FelixMumbai MarinesAdrian D'SouzaAndrew MeredithPune StrykersKen Pereira Gundeep SinghSher-e-PunjabPrabhjot SinghRajinder Singh

Umpires

Exhibition match

An exhibition match was organised on 20 December at Sector 42 Stadium, Chandigarh. Match was played between WSH World XI and WSH India XI. A one-sided match from the start was won by World XI. The World XI was captained by Brent Livermore and coached by José Brasa and Andrew Meredith. Prabhjot Singh led the India XI and coached by Jude Felix and Harendra Singh.

Match timings according to Indian Standard Time (UTC +05:30)

Team CompositionWSH India XIPlayerPositionBikash ToppoForwardBirendra LakraForwardDeepak ThakurForwardDhanraj PillayForwardInderjit Singh ChadhaForwardInnocent KulluForwardLalit Kumar UpadhyayForwardPrabhjot Singh (c)ForwardSameer DadForwardIgnace TirkeyMidfielderPrabodh TirkeyMidfielderTyron PereiraMidfielderVivek GuptaMidfielderDiwakar RamDefenderHarpal SinghDefenderJaswinder SinghDefenderSamir BaxlaDefenderWilliam XalcoDefenderAdrian D'SouzaGoalkeeperBaljeet SinghGoalkeeperWSH World XIPlayerPositionBenedikt SperlingForwardChris SeddonForwardConnor GrimesForwardEli MathesonForwardPeter KellyForwardRoderik HuberForwardSteven FaaijForwardSukhwinder Singh GabbarForwardTariq AzizForwardAdnan MaqsoodMidfielderBrent Livermore (c)MidfielderCasey HenwoodMidfielderDavid SeddonMidfielderJiwa MohanMidfielderJoseph ReardonMidfielderLloyd StephensonMidfielderPhelie MaguireMidfielderRobert GreenMidfielderAndrew EversdenDefenderJesse MahieuDefenderMaik GuntherDefenderMathew PhillipsDefenderMelchior LooijenDefenderZeeshan AshrafDefenderDevesh ChauhanGoalkeeper

Opening ceremony Opening ceremony of Bridgestone World Series Hockey was held at Sector 42 Stadium of Chandigarh followed by the inaugural match between Chandigarh Comets and Bhopal Badshahs.

League progression League Phase Knockout Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 SF F Bhopal Badshahs 3 3 6 7 10 10 13 13 13 13 14 17 17 17 Chandigarh Comets 0 0 3 3 6 9 12 12 15 18 19 22 25 28 L Chennai Cheetahs 0 3 6 6 7 7 7 10 13 16 16 16 19 19 Delhi Wizards 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 10 13 13 13 16 16 19 Karnataka Lions 0 0 0 3 3 6 6 9 9 12 15 18 21 21 L Mumbai Marines 0 3 3 6 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 13 Pune Strykers 3 6 7 8 9 9 12 12 12 12 15 15 18 21 W L Sher-e-Punjab 3 6 7 7 7 10 13 16 19 22 22 25 25 25 W W Note: The total points at the end of each group match are listed.WinLossDraw Note: Click on the points (league phase) or W/L (knockout) to see the summary for the match. Team was eliminated in the league phase.

Results All matches' timings according to Indian Standard Time (UTC+05:30)

League Phase TeamChandigarh Comets149144634+1228Sher-e-Punjab148154535+1025Karnataka Lions147073440–621Pune Strykers146354142–121Delhi Wizards146173637–119Chennai Cheetahs146174143–219Bhopal Badshahs145273237–517Mumbai Marines144193239–713 Qualified for Semi-Finals Eliminated

Play-offs

Semifinals

Final

The final of World Series Hockey was held in front of the capacity crowd at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium, Mumbai. Pune Strykers got into early lead when Tyron Pereira's cross creeped in during the 4th minute of the game. Pune's joy was short-lived as V.S. Vinaya neutralized off their first penalty corner a minute later. Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur led Punjab's attacks and were awarded with couple of penalty corners but could not be converted. Few close shots were saved by the goal-keeper Gurpreet Guri Singh. Attacks on the other end were made by Argentine recruit Mario Almada, Roshan Minz, Nikkin Thimmiah and Bikash Topo. Second quarter seemed like taking a goalless path before Deepak Thakur broke the deadlock between the sides by slotting in off a reverse stick just before the half time and Punjab saw themselves riding on a slender lead (2–1).

The first half saw an evenly contested match but the second half was completely dominated by Punjab. Skipper Prabhjot Singh in the 47th minute gave Punjab a two-goal cushion with a reverse-stick over Pune before the end off the third quarter. Sher-e-Punjab continued the tempo in the 4th quarter with Punjab's penalty-corner specialist Harpeet Singh converted off a penalty corner with a drag-flick. Known as the comeback kings, Strykers' all efforts were prevented by some robust defending by Punjab. A solo effort by the Prabhjot put Punjab into an unassailable 5–1 lead with four minutes left, who added 10th goal to his season's tally, and confirmed that his team as the champions. Simrandeep Randhawa added a consolation goal to Pune's tally by converting a penalty corner in the last minute and the match ended with Sher-e-Jalandhar 5, Pune Strykers 2 making Sher-e-Punjab the winners of the first WSH.

Awards RockstarSuperstarGame ChangerRookie of the YearBalkrishan AwardGurjinder Singh (Chandigarh Comets)Roshan Minz (Pune Strykers)Shakeel Abbasi (Delhi Wizards)Lalit Upadhayay (Bhopal Badshahs)Rajinder Singh Sr. (Sher-e-Punjab)

Statistics

Leading goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoals1Gurjinder Singh Chandigarh Comets19Imran Warsi Chennai Cheetahs193Len Aiyappa Karnataka Lions134Deepak Thakur Sher-e-Punjab12Gurpreet Singh Pune Strykers12Vikramjeet Singh Delhi Wizards12

Hat-tricks

PlayerFor Against ResultReportJoga SinghMumbai MarinesPune Strykers5–7Match 3Gurpreet Singh4Pune StrykersMumbai Marines7–5Match 3Imran WarsiChennai CheetahsChandigarh Comets5–3Match 7Len AiyappaKarnataka LionsChandigarh Comets3–2Match 14Ravipal SinghKarnataka LionsChennai Cheetahs5–3Match 21Deepak ThakurSher-e-PunjabChandigarh Comets5–2Match 31Len AiyappaKarnataka LionsBhopal Badshahs5–2Match 50Vikramjeet Singh4Delhi WizardsChennai Cheetahs4–6Match 52Gurjinder Singh4Chandigarh CometsKarnataka Lions6–1Match 53Simrandeep SinghPune StrykersBhopal Badshahs5–4Match 54Shakeel AbbasiDelhi WizardsSher-e-Punjab7–5Match 55Prabhjot SinghSher-e-PunjabDelhi Wizards5–7Match 55 4 Player scored 4 goals

See also World Series Hockey

References