Lang Ping, head coach of China women's volleyball team talks to players courtside during their Sunday game against Turkey. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

China's women's national volleyball team head coach Lang Ping said she has spent eight "splendid" years with the team, as it ended its campaign at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.

The Chinese players gathered together after Monday's 3-0 win over Argentina to bid farewell to Lang, before jointly saying an emotional thank you, a moment that left both the players and the coach in tears. Lang hugged each of her players one by one, while the background music "Sunshine comes after the storm" played.

"I think today's match is the start of their preparations for the Paris Olympics," Lang said. "Those young players have bright futures and possibilities."

She noted that she does not expect the athletes to quickly forget their Tokyo campaign, which saw the defending champions eliminated in the group stage. "I hope they won't forget this Olympics quickly. Their experience here matters," Lang said. 

Lang has pinned her expectations on young spiker Li Yingying, who has emerged as a powerful outside spiker to fill the shoes left by injured captain Zhu Ting.

During Lang's reign, China has won an Olympic gold medal and a World Cup among several other titles, but Lang has described the lack of success at the Tokyo Olympics as a "regret."

"But the regret could boost the young players' ambition to seek more trophies," Lang noted. 

The former spiker, dubbed "Iron Hammer," said she's likely to take a break to spend some time with her family, before considering some volleyball promotional work in the future.