China domination is harmful to sport - official

China's domination at the world table tennis championships was detrimental to the development of the sport and it must do more to help rivals become more competitive, the country's deputy sports minister said.

Table tennis has long been one of China's favourite sports and its players won 18 of the 20 medals, including a sweep of all five titles, in Japan over the last week.

"From the point of view of the Chinese association, the coaches and the players, it is a great achievement," Cai Zhenhua told the Oriental Sports Daily.

"But personally I am anxious that it is dangerous for the development of this sport worldwide.

"The truth is we have failed again. Chinese players grabbing all titles in whatever tournament they participate in is definitely detrimental."

After winning all four golds at last year's Beijing Olympics, China's domination of table tennis was reinforced in Yokohama where the five finals were all-Chinese affairs.

Cai, a former doubles world champion and national head coach, said the Chinese had to help develop competitive rivals in other countries that were strong enough to challenge for medals.

"Chinese table tennis does need more rivals to make the game better," he said.

"Presently I am considering how to make our opponents stronger. If we don't want to sweep the golds again and again in the future we have to start working on it now."

Cai suggested inviting foreign players to train in China and sending national coaches abroad, adding that up to 70 per cent of Chinese knowledge and tactics could be shared with others.

"They are the fundamentals which are most useful to many countries," he said.

"I can't order my players not to win everything. That is unfair to them and we would be criticised for matchfixing and bad sportsmanship."