An injury-time goal by Hamad Al Shaikh kept Bahrain’s dream of playing in next summer’s Beijing Olympic Games alive, reports Golf Daily News reported.

Bahrain beat hosts Uzbekistan 2-1 in Tashkent last night in the final qualifying round of the Asian confederation.

The victory revived Bahrain’s chances of making its Olympic debut as they are now three points behind group leaders South Korea while Uzbekistan face an uphill task.

The top teams in three of the Asian groups will book a berth for the 2008 Olympic Games.

In Seoul, the Koreans maintained their perfect start in this four-team group notching up their third successive victory beating Syria 1-0.

Kim Seung-yong scored the match-winner with a fifth minute header.

Bahrain piled on the pressure right from the beginning and scored in the 28th minute through Abdulla Omar who collected a loose ball and fired low into the corner of the net.

But Uzbekistan fought back and equalised in the 86th minute when Sadriddin Abdullaev received a pass from Lutfulla Turaev on the edge of the box and beat defenders Faouzi Aaish and Jassim Al Malood before scoring past goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaffer.

Bahrain turned the tables around just as the game looked destined to end in a draw.

Al Shaikh emerged as the hero for Bahrain when he launched a quick counter attack. He played a one-two inside the area with Ali Yaqoot before slotting the ball into the left side of the goal to give his side a valuable win.

Bahrain will next take on Uzbekistan on October 17 at the National Stadium in Riffa while Syria host their match against South Korea at the Hamdanyeh Stadium in Aleppo.

Meanwhile, hosts Australia stepped up their Olympic qualification campaign with a 3-0 victory over Lebanon in Group ’A’.

Nick Ward, Mark Bridge and substitute David Williams scored for the winners in Gosford.

The win put Australia in joint lead with Iraq with seven points each after the later beat North Korea 2-0 in Doha last night.

In Group ’C’, Japan recorded a slender 1-0 win over Qatar in Tokyo despite playing out the last quarter of the game with 10 men.

Yohei Kajiyama gave the Japanese the lead with a header after just six minutes but Takuya Honda’s 68th-minute sending off saw the home side come under increasing pressure as time ticked away.

The Japanese are still leading this group with seven points, three ahead of second placed Qatar and five in front of Vietnam and Saudi Arabia who drew 1-1 yesterday at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

Vietnam took the lead in the 65th minute after Ibrahim Shrahili’s attempted clearance was deflected by goalkeeper Waleed Ali into his own net. But substitute Naif Hazazi headed the sides level in the last 10 minutes.