Former volleyball star Lang Ping was appointed coach of the Chinese women's national team on Thursday, the second time in her storied career as a player and coach that she will lead the team.

The 53-year-old former head coach of numerous high-profile teams, including the US national team, emerged as the clear favorite on a four-candidate shortlist that included former Chinese women's head coach Cai Bin, former New Zealand men's team coach Jiang Jie and German league coach Liu Changcheng.

The four candidates made presentations during a closed meeting held by the Chinese volleyball governing body 10 days ago.

No financial details were released at Thursday's press conference where the four newly appointed head coaches - for the national men's and women's volleyball and beach volleyball teams - were presented to local media. Xinhua reported its sources said Lang's annual salary is about 2 million yuan ($324,000).

Pan Zhichen, director of the Chinese Volleyball Administrative Center, declined to confirm the report but said Lang's salary is commensurate with her experience and fame.

Lang is likely one of China's highest-paid national team coaches. Chinese short-track speed skating head coach Li Yan reportedly receives 2 million yuan annually.

Lang will be extremely busy as she will continue in her current position as coach of the professional women's volleyball Evergrande club, which pays her an annual salary of 5 million yuan. She has a year left in her contract with Evergrande.

Lang was a key member of China's most successful volleyball squad which was the first volleyball team to win the World Championships multiple times. She also won gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The national team's world standing has slipped over the last decade, after Lang pursued coaching opportunities overseas. After bagging the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese team failed to reach the Olympic semifinals in 2012. Head coach Yu Juemin resigned right after the London Games.

"Lang has been an icon and she's incredible both as a player and coach," said Pan. "But she's not a savior. She's not capable of single-handedly lifting the team from the bottom to the top."

"It will be a very tough job to turn a new page for the Chinese team in a short period of time. But I will make sure the team makes steady progress," said Lang.

After she retired as a player in late 1980s, Lang moved to the US, where she lived for 15 years but maintained her Chinese citizenship. She studied and worked as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of New Mexico.

She first took charge of the Chinese national team in 1995 and guided it to a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and to silver at the 1998 World Championships in Japan.

Lang resigned from the Chinese team in 1998 citing health reasons. She then moved to Italy, where she coached for six years. She took the helm of the US women's coach in 2004 and led that team to a silver medal at the Beijing Games.

After she returned to China in 2009, Lang was invited to coach the Evergrande club and she is credited with molding an inexperienced team into a dominant force in the Chinese league.

Lang was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 2002.

Xinhua - Global Times