“I feel that we played pretty well as the game went on, but in the beginning, maybe we were a little bit nervous, maybe a little bit too excited, and then we settled down and played better and better as the game went on,” she told the-AFC.com.

“I think we did a pretty good job, but there are still a lot of things we need to try and (improve on) - go back and look at the little details, and then continue on with the next game.”

As one of the most experienced players in the Chinese Taipei side, Chu makes sure to take on a mentoring role to her younger teammates - 11 of the 14-strong squad are aged 25 and below, with seven of them 20 or below.

A stalwart at 11-a-side level, Chu has played football since the age of nine and starred for Hualien Women’s Football Team, winning titles and playing in the AFC Women's Club Championship 2023, while also being involved at international level, where she was part of the squads for the FIFA Women's World Cup Playoff Tournament and Olympic Qualifiers in 2023.

“We have a couple of older players that try to help the young players grow as the tournament  goes on (including myself), we have been preparing for this since September,” said Chu, who turns 36 in August. “As time went along, we just tried our best and progressed, and I always tell them, ‘if you make mistakes, it is okay -  we are there to cover you and especially myself, as a goalkeeper. I will be there for you guys, so don't worry… and just continue with the game.”

Chu added that there is not “too much” of a challenge in adapting her game to suit futsal, although the more compact nature of the playing surface necessitates “moving faster and thinking faster because the ball comes at you really fast”.

Having given up top-flight 11-a-side football after being scouted to join the futsal national team, she is keen to keep playing as long as she can while hoping that a futsal league will be established in Chinese Taipei in order to aid the game’s development even further, noting that most of the players compete at university level and outside of that, only train when they are with the national team.

For now, the goalkeeper is fully focused on creating history with Chinese Taipei in Hohhot by surpassing their quarter-final achievement from their debut in 2018 to finish in the top three in order to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup in the Philippines later this year.

“Our first target is trying to get through the group stage and after that, of course, the quarter- finals and then semi-finals, and then try to get the ticket to the World Cup,” Chu said. “That's our final goal, but we need to take baby steps and then just reorganise and just focus on the next game, and continue on like that, and hopefully we'll get the ticket in the end.”