Britain face a daunting task in badminton

Gold Coast (Australia): A trio of daunting quarter-finals stand in the way of Britain winning their first ever Olympic badminton medal, but Simon Archer says if they can be overcome then the road is open all the way to gold.

Archer, who will team up with Jo Goode in the mixed doubles and Nathan Robertson in the men's doubles, said on Saturday that the draw had left everything pointing towards a last-eight showdown.

Archer and Goode have both overcome a series of injuries and are playing to the top of their form and victory over the world's top-ranked pair, Denmark's Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen in the final of this year's Indonesian Open marked them as real medal contenders for Sydney.

Although they face an awkward second round against either Danish or Korean opposition, the big test should come in the quarters against Chinese pair Lui Yong Ge Fei.

A similar situation arises in the men's doubles where the world's top ranked duo of Indonesia' Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan lie in wait. "The draw in the men's been quite good in that it's given us a couple of games that we would expect to win," he said.

"Obviously we won't be taking anything for granted but it does take a bit of the pressure off and gives us a chance to ease into the tournament a bit.

Quarter-finals are the huge games

"But in both the men's and the mixed it could all come down to the quarter-finals. They are both huge games but if we do manage to come through either of them then there's nothing to stop us going all the way."

Goode looks to have a tougher challenge in the women's doubles where she teams up with Donna Kellogg. The pair are European, Commonwealth and Indonesian champions but if they hope to medal they must do something they have not managed before - beat China's Qin Yiyuan and Gao Ling in the quarter-finals.

"We'd hoped to miss them in the quarters but we've trained really hard and if we play well on the day we can beat them," Goode said. China look likely to dominate the entire women's competition with top-seeded Gu Jun and Ge Fei the gold medal favourites in the doubles.

Britain failed to get anyone beyond the quarter-finals in 1992 and 1996, the only times the sport has featured in the Olympics, and Goode said it is extremely difficult for the Europeans to challenge the Asian dominance, such is the strength in depth of the leading nations.

"In places like China, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia they have so many good players in the set-up," she said. "There might be 100 or so all playing against each other. For us it's very difficult to get that sort of practice."

Bit of flair

Kellogg is placing her faith in touch of the unexpected that the English pair can bring to a match. "Some of the Asians tend to be a bit robotic but we try a bit of flair," she said. "It doesn't always come off but it means we are not easy to predict."

British team manager Lars Sologub, who has worked with his native Sweden, Germany and France before beginning his UK connection last year, said that lottery funding had revolutionised the sport in Britain but results might not start filtering through for another four or five years.

"Denmark has come on enormously in recent years and we are improving but we still have a way to go to challenge the Asian powers. But the new funding means we are getting the youngsters early and teaching them the right things at the right times," he said.

"We have some good chances for these Games, some draws have been better than others, but I think in four or eight years it will be a different story."

(c) Reuters Limited.