BEIJING, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - China should sweep all table tennis titles at next year's Olympics but the men's singles crown could once again escape them, the national federation chief warned Wednesday.

China has dominated the sport at international level for decades but fell short at the 2004 Olympics when the men's singles title was the only one they failed to win.

Four year's later a clean sweep is on the cards again but the men still look vulnerable despite dominating the world rankings, according to China's Table Tennis Association president Xu Yinsheng

"It is very likely that China will sweep all four golds," said the former world champion.

"Chinese women are definitely favourites for the women's title, while the men's singles is the most difficult."

The Olympic programme features men's and women's singles and men's and women's team titles.

In Athens South Korean Ryu Seung-Min destroyed China's dream of sweeping all the table tennis titles for a third consecutive Olympics with victory over Wang Hao in the men's singles final.

Ryu was world number three at the time but has since slipped down the ranking.

Even so, he was named by Xu as a threat to the Chinese men in Beijing during next year's August 8-24 Games along with European champion Timo Boll of Germany.

"Ryu is a fighter and Boll is nearly perfect technically," said Xu, speaking to the China Daily after China won six of seven titles on offer at the Asian Table Tennis Championships which ended Sunday.

China won all the titles on offer at the world table tennis championships in May this year.