Lee Dong-jun struck deep into stoppage-time on Thursday night as South Korea started their AFC U23 Championship with a highly-dramatic 1-0 victory over China, who lost key striker Zhang Yuning to injury.

This year's showpiece event offers three tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the much-anticipated encounter was an intense affair from start to finish.

China, contrary to most pre-match predictions, had a series of close chances to put in a goal but failed. A goalless draw seemed inevitable until Lee finished well in the 93rd minute to save South Korea's blushes.

The dispiriting result means China have suffered their ninth loss in the last 10 games at this tournament, with Hao Wei's side unable to take advantage of defending champion Uzbekistan's 1-1 draw with Iran in the race for qualification in Group C.

China's misery was compounded by Zhang limping off having appeared to hurt his right foot in a tussle with South Korean defenders. The Beijing Guoan youngster had been left to expect the worst after scans revealed a fractured metatarsal bone.

Later in the day, China confirmed that Zhang would not be back until February at the earliest and is set to miss the rest of the tournament. It is a devastating blow for Team Dragon whose hopes of qualifying for the Olympics this summer took a severe beating.

Elsewhere in Group B, Japan slumped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia, while Syria battled to a 2-2 draw with Qatar.