SHENZHEN, Jul 11 -- CHINA crushed co-host Malaysia 5-1 in its first match of Group C at the 2007 Asian Cup soccer tournament at Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Han Peng opened China's scoring blitz with the first goal in the 15th minute, and Shao Jiayi made it 2-0 in the 36th minute before the break.

Wang Dong added another in the 51st minute to make it 3-0. Three minutes later, Han Peng scored his second to practically seal the game.

In the 73rd minute, Malaysia pulled one back before China wrapped the match up with its fifth goal and second from Wang Dong in the closing minutes.

In another match last night, star striker Bambang Pamungkas's 64th minute winner gave co-host Indonesia a dream start to its Asian Cup campaign in Jakarta as the side shocked Bahrain 2-1 in group D.

Pamungkas was on hand to slot home the rebound after the excellent Firman Utina’s fierce drive had been tipped onto the post by Bahrain goalkeeper Abdulrahman Abdulkarim at full stretch. That gave the minnows an unlikely victory over Bahrain, who finished fourth in the competition three years ago in China.

The skillful Indonesians settled first, making light of their physical inferiority, and gave notice of their counter-attacking threat with a series of lightning forays deep into Bahraini territory that ended only with poor decision-making.