The Tajiks dominated play for long spells of the game at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium and were closer to opening the scoring against China on multiple occasions on their continental debut, eventually walking away with the points shared with their Group A rivals.

“I’d say we are very satisfied with the score,” said Segrt. “We were expecting to score but we are happy with the first point in Tajikistan’s first point in the AFC Asian Cup.”

Alishehr Dzhalilov was the side’s prime creative outlet, wreaking havoc in the Chinese defence, creating chances for his colleagues and forcing goalkeeper Yan Junling into multiple saves, but in the absence of his regular attacking partner Manuchekhr Dzhalilov, Tajikistan’s all-time top scorer with 20 goals in 51 caps to his name, they were unable to convert their chances into goals.

With the 33-year-old battling cancer, but present in Qatar to support the team, Segrt insisted the performance and result will have brought a smile to the face of the older Dzhalilov.

“He is the top scorer in Tajikistan history and our best striker, so of course we missed him, but for him it is not a discussion of playing or not, it is a story of life and death, and I wish him a happy life.

“He is with us here; we are happy to have him and that is a good motivation for us. I’m sure Manucheckhr Dzhalilov is the happiest man on earth for being with us and being alive to watch this moment.”

Tajikistan take on hosts Qatar at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday for their second match of the group, and Segrt expects his side to learn from their debut game.

“We lacked experience. We had the chances, we were very close at times, and this is something that we have to develop. It’s a process, by coming to bigger tournaments, we develop this. China are much more experienced, but I didn’t see them as a much better team than Tajikistan today.

“I think they lost two points and we lost two points. A draw is OK for both teams, they had one chance in the first half, but they were also lucky because their goalkeeper saved two important chances. I would have preferred a 3-3 draw for the spectators, but we are happy with the result.”

In turn, China head coach Aleksandar Jankovic was left to rue his side’s slow start to the game, as Team Dragon were second best in the opening half before growing into the match later on.

“The opening game is always difficult for all teams. A lot of stress and a lot of technical errors, lack of precision,” said Jankovic, summing up his side’s first match of the campaign.

“Both teams were not sharp and precise, especially in the first half. In the second half we had more control, but we have to be more precise. The group stage is three games and we have a clear goal to go through. We had the ambition to win today, but the most important ambition is to go through to the knockout stage.”

China needed 35 minutes to get their first attempt against the debutants and ended the first half with no shots on target, before substitutes Xie Pengfei and Xu Xin produced late chances and Zhu Chenjie had a headed goal overturned by VAR inside the last 10 minutes.

“This is a tournament where we need all 26 players, so I’m happy the subs were able to contribute. We showed some weaknesses in ball control and control of the tempo but we showed some good things in the second half too, which gave me some satisfaction. As a coach I will analyse everything and start tomorrow with new ideas.”