Tashkent: Mohammad Keshavarz and Ghodrat Bahadori scored

in the first half as Iran secured an 11th AFC Futsal Championship

title after edging out hosts Uzbekistan 2-1 in Sunday’s final.

Uzbekistan opened the scoring after five minutes at Uzbekistan

Stadium through Dilshod Irsaliev only for Bahadori’s thunderous

strike to level the tie in the ninth minute before captain Keshavarz

gave Iran the lead six minutes before half-time.

Uzbekistan pushed for the equaliser after the restart, but the

hosts struggled to create any clear-cut chances as Iran held

outto claim their first continental title since defeating the

same opponents 8-3 in the 2010 final.