August, 1982. Only nine short months after World Cup 81 in Japan, our Chinese ladies traveled to Peru to compete in World Championship 82. World Championship was, and still is, the world's largest volleyball competition. World Champ 82 had more than twenty different world class teams fighting for the title in five different cities in Peru.

Fate. During the preliminary round, China was in the same group as the U.S. Hyman and Clark's powerful spikes created a lot of pressure on the Chinese team, making it literally impossible for the Chinese to use their "quick and fast" ability. At the end, China lost 0-3 (6:15, 9:15, 11:15). Our Chinese ladies were shocked.

The situation was very clear. In order to get to the semi-final, China not only had to win every match from then on, but also had to win 3-0 in every single match. Otherwise, even if China could win all of the matches but not 3:0, our Chinese ladies still needed to depend on other teams' performance to see whether they could enter the semi-final… In a sense, they were skating on thin ice

To fully implement the idea of "Centralize on us, not the opponents; centralize on attack, not defense," the coaches of China boldly tried a new line: They replaced Chow Hiu Lan with Leung Yin and Chan Chiu Tee with Cheng May Chu. It proved to be very effective. With this line, China won the matches against strong opponents such as the former U.S.S.R. and Japan, playing their way to the final.

For the Chinese ladies, the Gold Cup represented far more than just the championship. After all, they had walked over to the other side of the thin ice without getting hurt. It was a symbol of their consistent hard work. It was the reward for the cooperation between the coaches and their members.

Left to right: Chao Wei Ying, Yuen Wei Min, Chen Ya Qiang; Zhang Chun Fang & retired after the '82 World Championship.