Tamil Nadu secured third position by defeating Chandigarh 3-2 in a violence marred match of the 63rd Rangaswami Cup Senior National Men's Hockey Championship played at the Aishbagh Stadium here yesterday.
For Tamil Nadu, V Nair scored a brilliant field goal in the sixth minute and gave 1-0 lead to his team but Harmanpreet Singh of Chandigarh equalised 10 minutes later.
Later, Tamil Nadu players played an attacking game and scored twice in seven minutes with R Ashok in the 27th minute converting a penalty corner into a goal and Satyarajan in the 34th minute netting the ball, giving 3-1 lead to their team.
However, in the second half, Raman Deep Singh of Chandigarh struck a field goal in the 67th minute and reduced the margin to 3-2.
Till breather, Tamil Nadu led 3-1.
Earlier, the match between the two teams for third and fourth spots witnessed violence before the start of the play over a minor issue of changing the dug-out.
Tournament officials had asked Tamil Nadu players to change the dug-out but they protested following which heated exchange took place and Tamil Nadu players allegedly attacked the officials and groundmen, tournament officials said.
Three officials of the tournament Hasan Parvez, Moinuddin Khan and Fahim Mohammed Khan and a groundman, Prakash were injured in the attack, they said.
Tournament director Peter Menezes banned former Olympian and Tamil Nadu skipper Adam Sinclair from the tournament holding him responsible for the scuffle that delayed commencement of the match commencement for more than half-an-hour, the officials said.
A report will be sent to Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) about the incident, they said.
