Karnataka Lions

Karnataka Lions had a bad start to the tournament with three consecutive defeats against Delhi Wizards, Sher-e-Punjab and Bhopal Badshahs.[3] Karnataka opened their account against Chandigarh Comets with a 3–1 victory at home.[4] 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 as a result qualified for the semi-finals with still one of their match remaining. They played Chandigarh Comets in their last league match where they had a big 6–1 defeat.[5]

Karnataka Lions faced Sher-e-Punjab at their home ground, Bangalore Hockey Stadium, 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.[6] They lost 4–1 from Punjab who went on to the final to become champions.[7] Majority of the team's goals came through their penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa who scored 13 goals in 12 matches including two hat-tricks against Chandigarh Comets and Bhopal Badshahs.[8][9][10]

Logo of Sporting Ace Pvt. Ltd.

Sporting Ace (a part of the Zentrum Group) owns the Karnataka Lions franchisee. Sporting Ace Private Limited is a part of the rapidly growing Zentrum Group and has acclaimed Bollywood action hero Suniel Shetty as the Chief Mentor. Zentrum Group is a global player in the field of Energy, Chemicals, Education, Sports, Information Technology, Consulting, Media, & Outsourcing and work extensively with the world's leading corporate houses, governments, and institutions.[11]

The 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 Kit & Equipment partner. Kyazoonga.com is the official ticketing partners and Radio City the radio partners. RVR16 is the Digital Partner who manages the Social Media Marketing, facebook, Twitter, official website and other Digital marketing forms. Fluid Media manages the creative duties for the team and Highlight advertising has been responsible for all on ground activations. Sporting Ace has in-house managed all the media marketing campaign.[12]

Theme song for Karnataka Lions has been composed by National award winning music director Vidyasagar. Lyrics have been written mainly in Kannada with a few words in English and Hindi by Shabbir Ahmed.[13]