Cheered on by a partisan home crowd, the Uzbeks battled back from a half-time deficit to get the better of a resilient China with Fakhriddin Samegov’s 33rd minute goal sealing the win.

The victory means Uzbekistan will play in their first final since 2006, when they were beaten 5-1 by Japan.

The game was unsurprisingly close from the start but Artur Yunusov opened the scoring for the hosts in the second minute before Li Xin levelled two minutes later.

Li then put China ahead with an eighth minute goal and completed his hat-trick in the 19th minute but Samegov grabbed a crucial goal before the break to make it 3-2 at the interval.

Nodir Elibaev equalised for Uzbekistan four minutes after the restart and the pace of the game slowed down after that with both sides eager not to make a mistake.

However, Samegov got his second of the day seven minutes before time to send the home fans into raptures.

The defeat denied China a place in the final of the AFC Futsal Championship once again but they will have the chance to better their previous best finish of fourth at the tournament in the third place play-off on Sunday.

Uzbekistan, meanwhile, will be hoping to seal their first-ever AFC Futsal Championship title later that day.