May 18, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 01, 1428

LAHORE, May 17: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, North Korea and Iraq secured their berths in the final round of Olympic Football Qualifiers for the Beijing 2008 Games on Wednesday.

The top two teams from the six groups will advance to the third and final round of qualifying (12 teams split into three groups) which will run through August 22 till November 21, with only the three group topping sides representing Asia at the Beijing Olympic Games. China as hosts will get automatic qualification.

In Group-A, a 1-1 draw with Qatar put brakes on Kuwait's qualification and the group remains wide open. Bahrain sidelined Pakistan 3-1 to go second in the group with nine points, two adrift leaders Kuwait and one more than Qatar.

Japan outplayed Hong Kong 4-0 in Group-B while Malaysia held Syria 0-0 in Kuala Lumpur in the same group.

In Group-C, Lebanon overcame a gritty Vietnam 1-0 to book a spot in the next round. Akram Mograbi's strike in the sixth minute proved to be the match-winner. Indonesia defeated Oman 2-1.

Group-D saw West Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia storming into the final round with a 4-1 thrashing of Jordan in Dammam while 10-man Australia downed Iran 3-1 to stay in contention.

In Pyongyang, DPR Korea held Thailand goalless to advance to the final round from Group-E while lowly India held top seeded Iraq 1-1 but the latter sailed through to the next stage as the group runners-up.

The Group-F saw Uzbekistan keep themselves in contention for a spot in the final round with a 2-0 victory over United Arab Emirates while Korea Republic lost to Yemen 1-0 in Sana.—Agencies