SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- If history is a guide, the battle for Olympic table tennis gold will be an all-Chinese affair -- although the players won't necessarily be battling for Beijing.

 Testifying to China's dominance of the sport, around two dozen players competing at Sydney for adopted countries were born in China, among them former members of its national squad or products of its formidable table tennis system.

 Gao Junchang, who won Olympic silver for China in 1992, now plays for the United States. All four women on Australia's team were born in China. Japan's strongest hope, seventh-seeded Chire Koyama, won a world championship for China in 1987, under her Chinese name, He Zhili. And the list goes on.

 Only a handful of the legions of top-notch players in China make it to the national squad. For others, moving abroad can enable them to live off their sport as professionals. Some have married overseas or, like China-born Australian squad member Miao Miao, emigrated with their families.

 "There are so many players in China and not many competitions," Miao said. "There are more opportunities abroad."

 For China, the expatriates can be a danger. That is especially true of Chen Jing, who won the Olympic women's singles title for Beijing in 1988 but who now competes for China's rival, Taiwan.

 Unlike many other expatriate players, Chen is not allowed back to China to train because "they do not want Chinese players practicing with her, helping her," said Taiwan coach Lin Chung-Hsiung.

 "Their relations are very delicate, they are both enemies and friends," he said of Chen's dealings with her former teammates.

 "They are a little threatening, after all they are all Chinese," Wang Nan, China's top woman player, said of the expatriate players. "It does put pressure on us."

 In part to stem the flow of players abroad, China is reforming its system, establishing table tennis clubs which the head coach of China's Olympic squad hopes will develop into a flourishing national league.

 "We hope outstanding players will stay longer in China," said Cai Zhenhua. "We even hope to attract foreign players to China. We hope it will become like the NBA."

 At Sydney, the Chinese will again be the players to beat when competition heats up Tuesday, with top seeds in action for the first time, against players from qualifying rounds. Among the strongest challengers are players from Sweden, Korea, Hungary, France and Germany.

 At the 1999 world championships, all five finals were contested exclusively by the Chinese. At the 1996 Olympics, the Chinese swept all four golds. The only player not representing China to make it to a final was Taiwan's Chen, in the women's singles.

 She took silver, losing to her fierce rival Deng Yaping, China's dominant player of the 1990s who has now retired.