Defences dominated a predictably tight encounter which sprang into life in the final minute of the second period of extra-time when Uzbekistan goalkeeper Doniyorjon Usmonov committed a catastrophic error, picking up a back pass from Gulom Urunov.

Usmonov was dismissed for his protestations after appearing to place his hands on referee Benjamin Williams.

Khalmukhamedov then donned the goalkeeping jersey for the shootout after China failed to convert the indirect free-kick and made a stunning save to his left to deny Li Zhichao as Uzbekistan set up a last-four tie against Korea Republic and earned a place at next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.

Chances were few and far between, with the action contained in the middle portion of the pitch.

The Uzbekistan bench became highly animated midway through the first-half when they believed China goalkeeper Wu Yan had taken the ball back across his own line after claiming Sherzodbek Karimov’s in-swinging corner but their appeals were dismissed.

The first shot on target finally came after 41 minutes with Sunnatilla Mamadaliyev bursting through from midfield before failing to test Wu Yan with a low shot from the edge of the area.

Khalmukhamedov hit a free-kick straight at Wu Yan before Zhou Liao’s first-time shot from distance went narrowly over for China.

Uzbekistan operated with nine men behind the ball at all times, leaving Sanat Shikhov to plough a lone furrow upfront and continually repelled China, whose only half-chance came after 85 minutes.

Zhou reacted first to a ricochet off the Uzbekistan defence swivelling to get a shot away which lacked the power to trouble Usmonov as the match went into extra time.

Tan Yang climbed above the Uzbekistan defence after four minutes of the first additional period but could only glance Wu Xi’s cross into the grateful hands of Usmonov.

A corner after 107 minutes dropped for substitute Wang Yunlong but he could only slice his close-range effort off target.

Uzbekistan continued to run down the clock but Usmonov picked up a pass back from Gulom Urunov with one minute remaining.

The goalkeeper was overzealous in his protest, appearing to put his hands on referee Williams, who had no option but to issue a red card.

As Akhmad Ubaydullaev had already used all three substitutes, Khalmukhamedov took the goalkeeping gloves.

Qiu Tianyi’s resulting indirect free-kick was blocked before the match went to penalties.

Each team netted their first two spot kicks before Uzbekistan’s Shikhov shot straight at Wu Yan and China’s captain Zhang Linpeng netted to give China a 3-2 advantage.

Parity was restored when Wu Xi missed China’s fourth spot kick before Sherzod Azamov converted to pile the pressure on Li.

Li hit the ball low and with power but was denied when Khalmukhamedov made a stunning save, diving low to his left to spark jubilant celebrations from Uzbekistan.