HANGZHOU: Paris Saint-Germain ace Lee Kang-in helped South Korea reached the quarter-finals of the Asian Games on Wednesday with a 5-1 thrashing of Kyrgyzstan.
The Koreans face China in the last eight after the hosts beat Qatar 1-0, with Iran, North Korea and Hong Kong also all through.
Lee, who played in PSG's win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last week before joining up with the Korean squad in Hangzhou, played 60 minutes in his second appearance of the tournament.
Paik Seung-ho gave the Koreans the lead from the penalty spot in the 11th minute before Jeong Woo-yeong doubled their advantage a minute later.
Forward Maksat Alygulov pulled one back for Kyrgyzstan in the 28th minute but Jeong put Korea in the clear with a third from the penalty spot in the 74th minute.
Substitutes Cho Young-wook and Hong Hyun-seok added two more late in the game.
China made a strong start against Qatar, with Tao Qianglong heading in a Fang Hao cross to give them the lead in the third minute.
The host nation had several chances to add more, with Fang in particular guilty of missing a glorious opportunity.
The single goal was enough to take China through.
Iran beat Thailand 2-0 to set up a quarter-final clash with Hong Kong, who edged Palestine 1-0 thanks to Matt Orr's ninth-minute goal.
North Korea beat Bahrain 2-0 and will face either Japan or Myanmar.
In first-round action in the women's competition, North Korea thrashed Singapore 10-0 in Group C, while Taiwan beat Thailand 1-0 in Group B.--AFP