Having failed to make the most of two early chances, Uzbekistan did not let the next one slip as they broke the deadlock in the fourth minute through Feruza Turdiboeva.

The only Uzbekistan player appearing in a third tournament, the 31-year-old’s effort from beyond the halfway line went through a crowd of players before eluding Chu Fang-Yi in the Chinese Taipei goal.

But the East Asians swiftly drew level through a superb left-footed finish from Su Hui-Chi, who turned her marker on the edge of the area before rifling the ball into the bottom right corner.

Both teams then traded blows as Chu and her counterpart, Nilufar Bakhtiyarova, made some routine saves each, until the contest turned on its head towards the end of the first half.

Chen Min-Huang’ fierce effort was deflected onto the post by Liu Chih-Ling, but the latter reacted quickest to smash home the rebound in the 17th minute.

Two minutes later, Chen surged forward on the break and calmly fired past Bakthiyarova to make it 3-1 to take Chinese Taipei into the break with the advantage.

Chinese Taipei picked up where they left off four minutes into the second half and Chen was instrumental again, as the 22-year-old crossed for Su to tap in her second goal.

At the other end, Uzbekistan found themselves frustrated by tenacious defending as well as custodian Chu, who pulled off three superb stops to deny Safina Rushaniya.

The Central Asians’ push for a goal left them exposed and Chinese Taipei took full advantage to score twice more through Liu Wen-Ling.

Captain Chen Ya-Chun picked off a defender on the right to square for an easy finish by Liu in the 33rd minute, before she added another two minutes later by curling into an empty net from the halfway line after Uzbekistan were caught out at a power play.

The brace capped the 6-1 victory for Chinese Taipei, equalling their biggest-ever win in tournament history, which came against Bangladesh in 2018.