CHENGDU, Sichuan province - Low-quality domestic leagues and a lack of superstars have hampered the development of China's sports industry, a leading expert says.

"The basis of the sports industry should be the domestic competitions, but the quality is not very good here so a lot fans turn to the (English) Premier League and the La Liga," said Chen Shaofeng, director of the China Institute of Sports Value.

"We are without high-quality leagues and we are also in short supply of real superstars in professional sports, so we lack some basic elements for the sports industry to thrive," said Chen at the Sports Industry and Capital Forum held during the 2011 China Sport Show in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Saturday.