Hangzhou, China: Tao Qianglong scored an early goal to help China beat Qatar 1-0 in the men's football round of 16 at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Wednesday, marking the country's return to the Asiad quarterfinals after Doha 2006. In front of over 38,000 supporters, the home team broke the deadlock just three minutes into the match, when Tao headed home a perfect right cross from Fang Hao. China had control of the match with nine shots, while the away team only had one. The Chinese side went close to doubling their lead in the 57th minute, but Fang missed an open goal opportunity. In the 89th minute, Zhang Wei penetrated the box in a counterattack and fired a powerful shot onto the post before Gao Tianyi's follow-up goal attempt was cleared from the goal line. Chinese defender Jiang Shenglong and Jassem Jaber of Qatar were sent off with direct red cards due to a physical altercation during the stoppage time. China's key midfielder Gao will also be suspended for the next round for yellow card accumulation. In the quarterfinals, China will face tournament favorite South Korea, who thrashed Kyrgyzstan 5-1. Elsewhere, DPR Korea and Iran edged Bahrain and Thailand respectively with 2-0, while Palestine lost 1-0 to Hong Kong. Earlier in the month, Qatar won all three matches in Group B of the AFC U23 Asian Cup™ 2024 Qualifiers. The Maroons will now have their sights set on the AFC U23 Asian Cup, specified to take place in Qatar next year. The April event in Qatar will double as a regional qualifying tournament for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The AFC tournament’s top three finishers will automatically advance to France, and the tournament’s fourth-place team will face Guinea, who finished fourth in the African qualifiers.