India Knock Olympic Silver Medallists Belgium Out; Enter Semis

• India 3-2 Belgium (Penalty shootout)

Regulation time: (India) 3: Gurjant Singh (31st min), Harmanpreet (34th min), Rupinder Pal Singh (46th min); Belgium 3: Loick Luypaert (38th and 46th min), Cedric Charlier (52nd min)

• Australia 4-1 Spain

Hosts India produced a spirited performance to stun Olympic silver medallist Belgium in the shoot-out and progress to the semi-finals of the Hockey World League (HWL) final, at  Bhubaneswar. The teams were locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time. The match went to sudden death, after regulation time (3-3) and tie-breaker (2-2) failed to yield a result. Warming the bench for most part of the match, goalkeeper Akash Chikte dished out a superb performance to hand India their first win of the tournament.

It was a great exhibition of attacking hockey from both sides as the regulation time yielded as many as six goals. While Gurjant Singh (31st minute), Harmanpreet Singh (35th) and Rupinder Pal Singh (46th) were the scorers for India, Belgium’s goals came from the sticks of Loick Luypaert (39th, 46th) and Amaury Keusters (53rd). But Chikte, who gave his place to young Suraj Karkera in the match and was brought into action in the 47th minute, stood up to his coach’s faith and produced four brilliant saves in the shoot-out that went to sudden death to seal the win for India. Unlike their last two matches, India made a bright start to the game and had a wonderful chance to take the lead in the opening minute. But an unmarked SV Sunil was guilty of wasting a golden opportunity on the far post, as he deflected wide a measured reverse stick cross from Gurjant Singh. The hosts kept up the pressure and secured their first penalty corner in the fifth minute, but Harmanpreet Singh’s attempt was easily dealt with by Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch. India controlled the tempo of the match, at least in the initial 10 minutes. Just a minute after the change of ends, Gurjant gave India the lead, pushing in a ball from goalmouth melee after Sunil’s initial reverse shot was saved by the Belgian goalkeeper. Four minutes later, India doubled their lead from their third penalty corner to send the crowd into a frenzy. Harmanpreet converted the set piece after being set up by a beautiful dummy by Rupinder.