Mohamad Ghaddar scored a brace as Lebanon trounced India 4-1 in the first round of Asia's 2010 World Cup qualifying tournament in Beirut on Monday.

Sunil Chhetri put the visiting Indians ahead on the half-hour mark in Monday night's clash, but the home side hit back to draw level through Roda Antar five minutes later.

Goals by Mohammad Ghaddar and Mahmoud El Ali within a minute of each other in the 61st and 62nd minutes put the Indians on the back foot. Lebanon added a fourth through Ghaddar 15 minutes before the final whistle to complete the rout.

Ghaddar then scored his second goal of the night in the 75th minute to lead Lebanon to a convincing 4-1 victory.

India fielded a severely depleted side with goalkeeper Sandip Nandy and striker Abhishek Yadav returning home with injuries.

In Monday's other Asian qualifier first leg games, Vietnam were beaten 0-1 at home by the United Arab Emirates, Palestine succumbed 0-4 to Singapore, Thailand thrashed Macau 6-1, Oman beat Nepal 2-0, Yemen defeated Maldives 3-0, Syria downed Afghanistan 3-0 and Bangladesh drew 1-1 with Tajikistan.

Forty-three Asian countries are vying for four places in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

An additional berth in the 32-team finals is up for grabs for the fifth-placed Asian team if they can beat the winner of Oceania's qualifiers in a playoff.

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