Son Heung-min scored twice and set up the third as South Korea handed China a 3-0 defeat in Shenzhen on Tuesday while Hong Kong twice came back from behind to draw 2-2 with Turkmenistan.

The win keeps the Koreans perfect after the first two games in the second round of Asia's preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup and was China's first defeat after winning against Thailand in their campaign opener.

The Thais bounced back from that loss to beat Singapore 3-1 with Suphanat Mueanta scoring twice in the second half for Mano Polking's team, who move level with China on three points.

Everton Camargo returned to the Hong Kong squad to face Turkmenistan after missing the opening loss to Iran. His goal midway through the second half secured a point for the hosts at Hong Kong Stadium after Ruslan Mingazow had scored both goals for the visitors in Group E.

In the group's other game second-half goals from Oston Orunov and Igor Sergeev saw Uzbekistan fight back from a two-goal halftime deficit to draw 2-2 with Iran, leaving both teams on four points.

Japan, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all won, while Kuwait and North Korea scored a flurry of goals en route to victories.

The qualifying games will resume in March next year. (Reuters)