Oman scored a goal in each half to pick up its first win of the third round of AFC Asian qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics with a 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia Wednesday. Qasim Hardan broke the deadlock on the quarter-of-an-hour mark before Nasser Al-Shamali sealed the Gulf Sultanate's win 10 minutes into the second half. The victory moved Oman up to second in the standings with three points, one less than Korea Republic, which came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Qatar in Doha in Wednesday's other Group A fixture. An Ibrahim Majed penalty had put Qatar one up three minutes before the interval only for defender Yun Suk-young to provide the assist for Kim Hyung-sung, whose 68th minute strike ultimately earned the Koreans a potentially priceless point. Following its 2-0 win over Oman back in September, Wednesday's draw in Doha kept Hyong Myung-bo's side in pole position. In Al-Ain, while Uzbek stars Server Djaparov and referee Ravshan Irmatov were celebrating personal triumphs in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday there was to be no team victory over in the Middle East as Uzbekistan's Under-23s drew 0-0 with the UAE in their Olympic qualifier played on the same night as the 2012 AFC Annual Awards ceremony. Despite the draw, Uzbekistan still held top spot in Group B of third round of qualifiers after Australia also drew 0-0 with Iraq in Doha Tuesday following their goalless draw in their opener at home to Bahrain. Uzbekistan's 2-0 win over the Iraqis in their Group B curtain-raiser sees the Central Asians lead Australia by two points and they will be looking to extend that Sunday when they host Aurelio Vidmar's side in Tashkent. Malaysia's exertions in their SEA Games gold-medal winning campaign, meanwhile, took its toll on Ong Kim Swee's side as the Young Tigers went down 2-0 at home to Syria in their Group C clash also Wednesday. In Oceania qualifying for the 2014 World Cup Tuesday Samoa beat the Cook Islands 3-2, while American Samoa beat Tonga 2-1.
