Thai shuttlers will be up against the world's top players at the Sudirman Cup Finals 2025 in Xiamen, China, starting this Sunday.
The Thai team will be led by newly-crowned Asian champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Ratchanok Intanon while several other household names such as Supanida Katethong, Pornpawee Chochuwong, Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Dechapol Puavaranukroh, Kittinupong Kedren, Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard will also take part in the tournament.
Thailand, who reached the semi-finals twice in 2013 and 2017, are in Group A along with China, Hong Kong and Algeria. They will play their opening tie against Hong Kong on Sunday. The team will then face Algeria on April 28 and China two days later.
Group B includes South Korea, Taiwan, Canada and Czech Republic while Japan, Malaysia, France and Australia are in Group C. Group D consists of Indonesia, Denmark, India and England.
The 16 teams will compete in a round-robin format with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
China, the 13-time champions, will again be favourites to retain the title they won two years ago with the likes of top-ranked Shi Yuqi, Li Shifeng and Han Yue in the team.
They beat South Korea 3-0 in the final in Suzhou two years ago.
Olympic champion An Se-Young will lead the Korean team while Akane Yamaguchi and Kodai Naraoka will spearhead Japan's challenge.
The mixed team tournament, which ends on May 4, will be broadcast live on TrueSport 2 and TrueSport 7.