Led by world No 2 mixed doubles pair of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam, the 13-member squad includes Boonsak Ponsana, Poompat Sapkulchananart, Songpol Anukrittayawan, Soratja Chansrisukot and Sathinee Chankrachangwong.

In the men's doubles, Sudket will try out with a new partner in Songpol, while his former partner Pattapol Ngernsrisuk teams up with Nattapol Nakthong as staff coaches want to find out the right combination.

Sudket and Saralee are eyeing a place in the quarter-finals in England and keeping their world ranking within the top five for this season.

The world No 10 Boonsak wants to climb into the top five to avoid facing tough rivals in early rounds of the events after International Badminton Federation (IBF) changed the rules about seeding, reducing the number of seeds from 16 to 8. After the six-day event, the Thai players will travel to Basel for the Swiss Open Super Series from March 13 to 18.

The event in England is one of five tournaments which offer world ranking points for qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games next year.

Charoen Wattanasin, the president of the Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT), said the association had made changes to its training programme with the hope that a few of its players will pick up medals in the Olympics.

"We have changed our training programme entirely. It is based more on sport science. We will send only well-prepared players to the Olympics and they will go there with the aim of winning medals, not just to participate in the event," he said. Meanwhile, BAT in cooperation with Siam Cement Group is holding three tournaments to search for new talent and give competent players a chance to compete in international events.

BAT's programme begins with the Junior Championships in April, followed by the SCG World Grand Prix Thailand Open in August and the SCG All Thailand in October.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation