Japan hit seven to set up North Korea showdown at Asiad

HANGZHOU: Japan hammered Myanmar 7-0 on Thursday to set up an Asian Games men´s quarter-final showdown with North Korea while Saudi Arabia also reached the last eight with a hard-fought win over India.

Japan won both of their games in the group stage in Hangzhou and had little trouble in the last 16 against a ragged and outclassed Myanmar. Kein Sato and Shun Ayukawa hit a brace apiece in the first half before Kohshiro Sumi scored another to put Japan five goals up at half-time.

Kotaro Uchino and Shota Hino added more after the break. Saudi Arabia had a much tougher time against a stubborn India before coming away with a 2-0 win.

The Saudis peppered the Indian goal in the first half -- with Musab Al-Juwayr hitting the crossbar -- but went into half-time goalless. They only had to wait six minutes after the restart before Mohammed Marran headed them into the lead from close range.

Marran struck again six minutes later to ease the Saudis´ nerves. Saudi Arabia´s opponents in the quarter-finals will be Uzbekistan, who beat Indonesia 2-0 after extra time.

The two teams were goalless at the end of the 90 minutes but substitute Sherzod Esanov broke the deadlock two minutes into extra time before he struck again in the dying seconds. Men´s football at the Games is made up of under-24 squads plus three overage players. South Korea are the holders and favourites.

In the group stage of the women´s competition, host nation China gave their fans plenty to cheer with a 6-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan in Group A.

In Group D, holders Japan thrashed Vietnam 7-0, and Nepal drew 1-1 with Bangladesh. In Group E, South Korea thumped Hong Kong 5-0, and the Philippines beat Myanmar 3-0.