South Korea, gold medal winners at last year's Asian Games in Incheon, were hoping to continue their upsurge in form against the 15-time Asian champions.

They had cruised into a lead before a brilliant Chinese fightback.

Teenage sensation Zhou Qi led the way with an outstanding performance, finding a basket with 56-seconds remaining to put his side ahead before a lay-up from Guo Ailun pushed them further ahead.

It ended a 21-point final quarter for the hosts, as they held on for a three point victory after Cho Sungmin missed a three-point attempt in the final seconds.

"Everybody knows his talent and potential," China coach Gong Luming said of star player Qi afterwards.

"It has been that way for a long time now, today he showed he can handle pressure also.

"In fact, the biggest take away for us from this game is our ability to handle pressure."

It marked a second successive win for the Chinese on a day packed with close matches.

Most notably, Qatar edged a double-overtime thriller to snatch a 105-100 victory over Lebanon. 

Ali Saad, who had kept Qatar in the match with three free-throws to force the first overtime with just seven seconds remaining, was one star after racking-up 20 points in total, including back-to-back three pointers in overtime.

Trey Johnson was another with 31 points.

It marked a second successive overtime triumph for the Qataris after they edged-out Kazakhstan yesterday.

Elsewhere, Jordan recovered from their opening day defeat with a 98-68 victory over Singapore, with Alex Legion leading the way with 19 points.

Kazakhstan rebounded from their opening day defeat with an 84-73 win over Taiwan, withstanding a late fight-back after taking a 25-7 lead following the opening quarter.

Palestine continued their superb form with a 90-69 victory over Kuwait, as Sani Sakakini and Jamal Abu Shamala combined for 46 points, 14 rebounds and four steals following their shock victory over Philippines yesterday.

The Philippines bounced back today with a 101-50 thrashing of Hong Kong, while defending champions Iran fought off dogged Indian opposition to win 88-66.

Mohammad Hassanzadeh led the way with 18 points for the Iranians, while Mahdi Kamrani and Samad Nikkhah Bahrami contributed 13 and 12 points respectively.

Japan were equally impressive with Keijuro Matsui racking up 25 points in a 119-48 demolition of Malaysia.

The top three countries in each of the four team groups will advance to the second round groups in Changsha, with the overall winners booking a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Three places are also up for grabs at the Olympic qualifying tournament.

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