China's Wang Tong (L) competes with Qatar's Mohammed Muntari during their AFC U23 Championship Group A match. (Photo : Xinhua)
China PR succumbed into a hard-fought 1-3 loss in the hands of host nation Qatar during a 2016 Asian Football Confederation Men's Under-23 Championship elimination group stage match held at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha on Tuesday.
Chinese midfielder Liao Lisheng scored the lone goal for Fu Bo's squad, opening the scoring two minutes before halftime to give his side a comfortable 1-0 lead at the break, as per Xinhuanet.
However, Qatar found the back of the net three times in the second half to pull off the convincing comeback, courtesy of a double from team captain and defender Abdelkarim Hassan at the 66th and 72nd minutes and another one by forward Ahmed Alaa at the 82nd to seal the game.
The game seems to be in favor of the young Chinese team until the 22-year-old Hassan, who is currently suiting up for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd, managed to equalize the game with a successful header six minutes after the hour mark.
He scored his second goal only six minutes after that to irreversibly give the momentum to Fahad Thani's side.
The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship has a total of 16 teams, divided into four groups of four teams each, competing from different Asian countries. This is the second edition of the said tournament and acts as the qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Olympic football games.
Cri English noted that the top three teams at the end of the tournament "will earn places for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, representing Asia".
China and Qatar were drawn in Group A together with Iran and Syria. Iran defeated Syria, 2-0, in the day's other match.
China will next face Syria while Qatar will engage Iran on Friday for the second round of Group A competitions.
