MUMBAI: Close on the heels of announcing the Chennai franchisee, Nimbus? hockey league initiative World Series Hockey (WSH) has announced the Bangalore franchise, which has been acquired by Sporting Ace.

Sporting Ace is a part of the Zentrum Group and has 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 and outsourcing and works with corporate houses, governments, and institutions. The franchise has been called Karnataka Lions

Shetty said, "I am proud to spearhead the Karnataka Lions in World Series Hockey. I have been the brand ambassador for Indian Hockey and felt it was about time I took a more active role in creating a global platform for our hockey players to excel."

Sporting Ace MD Sagar Pol Chowdhury said, "The Bangalore franchise will be much more than just a profitable venture for us. We are committed to invest in sports and the newly formed entity Sporting Ace will look at promoting multiple sports and help build necessary infrastructure. WSH is the first and most important step in that direction. I am delighted to have Suniel Shetty as the Chief Mentor and his passion for sports is a perfect fit with the vision of our organisation"

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "We are indeed proud to welcome Suniel Shetty and Sporting Ace to the WSH family. It is heartening to see the passion for Hockey they bring to the table and I am confident this will translate into an extremely large and loyal fan base for the Karnataka Lions".

The WSH will be held from 17 December, 2011 to 22 January, 2012 and will involve 200 players -- Indian and international -- who will showcase their talent in 61 matches. It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practiced ?draft? system.

The inaugural edition of the league will comprise eight teams out of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune, Bhopal, Punjab, Ranchi and Rourkela.

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