HANGZHOU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Tao Qianglong scored a brace in the second half as Chinese men’s football team thrashed India 5-1 here on Tuesday, which saw eight matches kick off on the first match day of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The home team opened the scoring in the 16th minute, when Gao Tianyi scored from a corner. China was awarded a penalty-kick six minutes later, but Zhu Chenjie missed the spot kick.
In stoppage time of the first half, India’s Rahul KP used his pace to penetrate into the penalty area from right flank, unleashing a powerful narrow-angle shot to grab the equalizer.
Six minutes into the second half, Dai Weijun put China in front again with a long-range shot.
Tao then struck two goals in three minutes and Fang Hao added another one for China to seal the 5-1 victory.
Bangladesh lost 1-0 to Myanmar in the other Group A match.
In Group B, Vietnam defeated Mongolia 4-2, while Iran and Saudi Arabia drew 0-0.
Although Paris Saint German star forward Lee Kang-in had not joined the team yet due to club duties, Group E favorite South Korea romped to a 9-0 win over Kuwait. Jeong Woo-young, who plays for Stuttgart in the Germany’s Bundesliga, scored a hat-trick.
Thailand was held to a 1-1 draw with Bahrain in Group E thanks to a stoppage-time goal.
In Group F, Indonesia and DPR Korea won 2-0 against Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei respectively.