DOHA, Qatar _ Borhani Arash scored a second half penalty Sunday to boost defending champion Iran's chances of advancing to the Asian Games quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over Hong Kong.

Sota Hirayama scored a late goal to give Japan a 1-0 win over Syria that all but assured a spot in the Asian Games final eight, while China improved its chances of advancing with a 3-1 win over Malaysia.

Sham Kwok Keung opened the scoring in the 8th minute for Hong Kong, before Mazyar Zare Eshghdoost leveled the match in the 39th.

Arash Borhani drove home the winning goal in the 64th minute to give Iran a two point lead over India in Group D heading into final second round match.

Hirayama's header in the 77th minute give 2002 silver medalist Japan the Group F lead with six points. North Korea has four points after it beat Pakistan 1-0 later Sunday.

The top team in each of the six groups qualifies for the quarterfinals, along with the best two runners-up.

"We played very well, but we were not lucky," said Syria coach Fajer Ebrahim. "We lost many chances and that's football."

Both teams squandered plenty of opportunities to score, including a Japanese goal that was disallowed in the 41st minute due to a foul on Syrian goalkeeper Mowssab Balhowss.

"Today's game was more difficult than the previous against Pakistan," said Japan midfielder Chikashi Masuda. "For the first 15 minutes our defense was not so good."

Zhou Haibin opened the scoring for China in the 41st minute when he capitalized on a fumble from Malaysian goalkeeper Syed Adney.

Gao Lin made it 2-0 seven minutes after the break when he picked up a well placed headed cross from Zhu Ting. Fung Xiaoting sealed the win in the 72nd.

Mohamad Hardi Jaafar scored Malaysia's only goal on a 25-meter free kick in the 66th.

Ali Rehema and Khashen Alaa scored either side of the halftime break to keep Iraq's slim quarterfinals hopes alive with a 2-0 win over Oman. That left both teams on three points in Group E, three behind leader China.

As Iraqis were celebrating in the stadium at the end of the match, the ground announcer said: "We wish that the happiness in the stadium will be antidote to all Iraqis."

Kim Chol Ho scored in the 53rd minute to help North Korea hand Pakistan its 12th straight Asian Games defeat. Pakistan's skid dates back to its 1-0 loss to the United Arab Emirates in 1986, and equals Nepal as worst in Asian Games history.

Subhash Chakraborthy scored moments before fulltime to give India a 2-1 win over Maldives.

Irungbam Singh opened with a goal in the 34th minute before Ali Ashfaq converted for the Maldives in the 38th and sent the two teams to the break with the scores at 1-1.

Chakraborthy broke the deadlock in the 89th minute to eliminate the Maldives from quarterfinals contention.