In Group A’s fixture played at the Faisal Al Husseini Stadium Rasul Yuldoshov and Abunozir Abdurakhmonov both scored hat-tricks as Uzbekistan turned up the heat in the second half to sweep aside the Maldives.

The Indian Ocean islanders had restricted the Uzbeks to just Yuldoshov’s 12th minute opener in the first half but it was an altogether different story after the interval as the Central Asians scored seven times without reply.

Yuldoshov scored his and Uzbekistan’s second five minutes into the second half before substitute Abdurakhmonov, who replaced Ibrokhim Ganikhonov - himself a 29th minute sub - in the 53rd minute, scored the first of his treble seven minutes after entering the field of play.

Two minutes later defender Islom Karimov made it 4-0 and after Yuldoshov completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute Abdurakhmonov, repeated the feat with two goals (74th, 86th) either side of skipper Abubakir Muydinov’s 83rd minute effort as the Uzbeks ended Match Day 1 top of the table.

Ten group winners and four best second-placed teams will join DPR Korea, who topped the already concluded Group H, and India in next year’s finals, with the tournament hosts receiving an automatic qualification.

Should India finish top of their qualifying group or among the four best second-placed teams, the fifth best second-placed nation will qualify for the final competition.

In the other match of the Group, Yemen claimed a 2-0 victory over Palestine.