Video: Akash Chikte makes heroic save to put India through to semifinal of FIH World Hockey League Final 2017

India earned their victory in the 2017 FIH World Hockey League Final, at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhabaneswar, as they won 3-2 on shootout against Olympic silver medalists Belgium, in the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.

Goalkeeper Akash Chikte was the hero of the match for India, as he made one save after another, to earn India the victory in the end.

Lalit Upadhyay and Rupinder Pal Singh had put India in a comfortable 2-0 lead in the shootout, but Belgium pulled the two back with goals from Arthur van Doren and Florent van Aubel. As the match went into sudden death, Harmanpreet stepped up and converted, to give India the upper hand.

Belgium send in van Doren to keep themselves in the contest, but Akash Chikte made a brilliant save, to take India through to the semifinal.

Doren ran in and tried to corner Chikte to the right side of the goal. He then turned his back to the goal, to shield the ball from Chikte, lined up the ball on the other side, and pulled the trigger.

Chikte, who looked well and truly beaten, made a brilliant dive, to get to the ball just in time, and parry the shot away, thus taking India into the semifinals.

This is the first time that India have made earned a victory in the competition, after having lost out to both England and Germany in Pool B. The only positive they had out of the preliminary round was a 1-1 draw against Australia.