TEHRAN – Iran were held to a 1-1 draw by Qatar in the opening match of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup on Wednesday.

Qatar's Ahmed Al Ganehi scored 87th and Erfan Shahriari salvaged a point for Iran with his strike in stoppage time. 

Iran will also play newcomers Turkmenistan and hosts Uzbekistan on June 4 and 7, respectively.

Iran played two friendly matches with Iraq U23 football team in Baghdad last week as part of preparation for the AFC U23 Asian Cup, where they earned a 1-0 win and lost 3-1 in their second match.

The 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup is 5th edition of the competition, a biennial international age-restricted football championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia.

The tournament was scheduled for Jan. 6 to 24, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rescheduled for June 1 to 19.

 A total of 16 teams compete in the tournament.

South Korea are the defending champions.