It was a badly needed morale boost for the host nation after their opening defeat to Uzbekistan and leaves Group A finely poised with the Uzbeks on six points and China and Qatar on three with one more game to play.[break]
Kuwait are hanging on by their fingernails with no points so far and a must-win clash against Qatar awaiting them on Sunday.
At a near-capacity Khalifa Stadium, Ahmed struck a glorious goal on 27 minutes to put his side in front, cleverly controlling a high ball before volleying it into the top corner.
With an expectant nation watching, the 22-year-old doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, dealing a demoralising blow to a young Chinese side that beat Kuwait 2-0 in its opening match.
Qatar coach Bruno Metsu, whose job would have been under threat if they had lost, said he was proud of the way his team bounced back from their opening loss.
"We wanted to show the real face of our team and the players have done that. They have shown their potential and I´m very proud of their performance," said the Frenchman.
"We will try to do the same against Kuwait and qualify for the next stage."
Despite losing, China coach Gao Hongbo said it was a good experience for his young team but admitted they needed to make more of their chances.
"Our team did not do well in attack. Qatar got two goals and we didn´t give them enough pressure so Qatar were able to organise their attack very easily," he said.
"We lost but I think losing is part of life and I think we can do better in the next game, which is now very important for us."
It was a fast and furious game with Qatar opening in lively fashion.
Their Uruguayan-born striker Sebastian Soria had an early sniff of goal when he rose above the Chinese defence soon after kick-off, only to angle his header narrowly past the post.
Qatar were exerting good early pressure but they were almost caught napping on a counter-attack with Deng Zhuoxiang having a free header when he met a Rong Hao cross on six minutes.
The Shandong Luneng midfielder should have scored, but put the ball directly into goalkeeper Qasem Burhan´s arms.
Soria also had a wonderful chance on 10 minutes but with only the goalkeeper to beat, he hooked the ball wide of the post to the dismay of under-pressure coach Metsu.
China were dangerous on the break and Burhan did well to collect a high ball sent in by Yu Hai with Deng lurking dangerously for any errors midway through the half.
Qatar though were equally threatening and Ahmed rifled a shot from the edge of the box into the side netting soon after.
With the momentum building in their favour, he broke the deadlock with a wonderful strike, controlling the ball with his knee before volleying it past flailing Chinese keeper Zeng Cheng.
Ahmed turned the screws on the stroke of half-time, swivelling away from his marker and planting his shot beyond the outstretched arms of Zeng to send the crowd wild.
Qatar played a defensive game in the second period with China pressing forward, looking for a way back. Substitute Yang Xu had their best chance but his shot from the edge of the box fizzled wide.
The ever-dangerous Soria almost made it 3-0 in the 64th minute after heading the ball down and unleashing a rocket, but his shot whizzed past the post.
Djeparov fires Uzbeks towards quarters
A thunderbolt from captain Server Djeparov gave Uzbekistan a 2-1 win over Kuwait that took them to the brink of the Asian Cup last eight here on Wednesday and left Kuwait on the verge of elimination.
Djeparov cracked home a first-time shot from 20 yards in the 65th minute to continue Uzbekistan´s 100 percent record in Group A after the 2-0 defeat of hosts Qatar in their group opener.
Uzbekistan had taken the lead shortly before half-time when Azizbek Haydarov inadvertently diverted a Maksim Shatskikh free-kick past the Kuwait goalkeeper, with Bader Al Mutwa levelling from the penalty spot.
"I´m very happy that we beat Kuwait today," said Uzbekistan´s coach Vadim Abramov. "I think we can spring a surprise here."
He added: "I hope that Uzbekistan will become the champions, but there are lots of other good teams here as well, like Australia, South Korea, Japan and Iran."
Victory puts Uzbekistan on six points after two matches.
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"Now it´s a very bad feeling," said Kuwait coach Goran Tufegdzic.
"After two matches we have lost both. But we still have the last match against Qatar. Our target was to reach the second round, but now we have to go out. What can we do? It´s football."
In front of over 18,000 empty seats at the Al Gharafa Stadium, Kuwait started with purpose and twice threatened to take an early lead.
Uzbekistan goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov did well to save from Fahad Al Enezi after racing to the edge of his box inside the first minute, while Walied Ali clipped a shot narrowly wide moments later.
Gradually, however, Uzbekistan began to assume control of midfield, and Odil Akhmedov headed over from point-blank range in the eighth minute following a sweeping one-touch move.
Uzbekistan opened the scoring in the 41st minute and the breakthrough stemmed from the right foot of veteran Shatskikh, whose goal-bound effort clipped Haydarov´s back to wrong-foot Nawaf Al Khaldi in the Kuwaiti goal.
Tufegdzic sent on Hamad Nayef at half-time and the striker had an immediate impact.
Having headed inches over the bar from Fahad Awad´s left-wing centre moments after coming on, Nayef then won a penalty when he tripped over under pressure from Anzur Ismailov on the perimeter of the Uzbek box.
Al Mutwa held his nerve to place the ball into the bottom-right corner, sparking the Kuwaiti fans into song after Haydarov´s goal had silenced them.
Parity reigned for just over 15 minutes, however, and if Uzbekistan´s opener had been slightly fortunate, their second goal owed everything to the ball-striking ability of Djeparov.
Uzbekistan had been on the back foot since conceding the equaliser, but when substitute Jasur Khasanov picked out Djeparov just outside the box, the captain let fly with a fine first-time shot that flashed into the net.
Substitute Ahmad Ajab spurned Kuwait´s best chance to equalise, volleying well over the bar from six yards after Al Mutwa picked him out with a raking ball from the right flank.
Al Enezi also drew a finger-tip save from Nesterov with a powerful effort from the edge of the box as the game ticked into injury time.
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