China's volleyball officials can finally take a break from the barrage of criticism and questions.

Under the team's third coach in two years, Yu Juemin, the Chinese women's volleyball team defended its Asian Cup title without dropping a set. Moreover, it defeated Thailand, which it lost to in the Asian Championships title match a year ago.

That defeat rocked China's volleyball to the core.

Now order seems to have been restored. And together with the victory comes news that retired player Zhou Suhong has come back and started training with the team, and that Feng Kun, a former national captain, may also return.

There are two distinct voices of opinion on these comebacks. Some argue they may assist in the steady progress of the team while others believe the side is going the wrong direction by "wearing worn-out shoes and taking the old road".

As for coach Yu, he told the media he is using the most capable players. "Old or young, if they are good and can be competitive on court, I'll take them to London (2012 Olympics)," Yu said.

Only one thing is clear as crystal. Their returns mean their successors have not performed satisfactorily. Zhou used to be the team's maestro player as side attack and assistant setter while Feng was the setter.

The frequent changing of coaches and the performance of the team has sent a disturbing signal that the team is no longer among the world's elite and the gap between it and the leading sides is expanding.

The reasons for that appear to include a talent shortage, poor development strategy, a lack of grassroots coaches and a dwindling volleyball market.

It is said China only has 200 to 300 registered professional players. Chen Zhonghe, who led the team to a handful of major world titles including the 2004 Olympic gold, but retired after China finished third at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, once said: "I choose from only 100 players while the US coach is choosing from 100 teams".

Even more thought-provoking is the fact that the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), the sport's governing body, listed China at the bottom in Asia in the cultivation of youth players. China is 14th, behind Japan (No 7) and Thailand (11). No wonder the Thais beat us!

To use a cliched term, China's volleyball hierarchy apparently did little to nurture sustainable development during the glory days.

China's gold-medal oriented strategy seems to have caused the stagnation. Winning gold medals at major events can lead to promotion, and many other rewards, for officials. However, to bring up 12 players for only one gold medal is definitely more costly than to raise a swimmer who can win, maybe, three to four gold medals.

Before 1985, China had 40 local teams, but that number has since been reduced to 17. Even if some schools are successfully producing good players, many of them have nowhere to go as volleyball is losing favor at the provincial level.

Chinese volleyball now faces an uncertain future.

However, the good news is that China's sports officials are adjusting the National Games development strategy, giving more weight to soccer, basketball and volleyball gold medals. By the next National Games, in Liaoning in 2013, winning a volleyball title would earn three gold medals while the beaten finalist would collect two gold medals and third place one.

You won't find another example of this anywhere else in the world. I just hope this method can somehow help stop the decline of volleyball here.

The author is China Daily's chief sports commentator, who has been following China's sports over the past 26 years. He can be reached at yangxinwei@chinadaily.com.cn.

By Yang Xinwei

(China Daily 09/29/2010 page22)