Denmark to dispatch ten-strong badminton squad

(BEIJING, July 8) -- Denmark will dispatch a ten-person badminton squad to Beijing for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Veteran Peter Gade, four-time European champion and Athens Olympic Games semifinalist, will compete in the Men's Singles competition. He is currently ranked 9th in the world. 34-year-old Kenneth Jonassen, who is ranked fifth in the world, will also be part of the Danish team. He is the 2008 European Championships gold medalist.

In the women's singles, world No. 4 Tine Rasmussen, freshly crowned in the Singapore Super Series 2008, is expected to win a medal for Denmark.

Jens Eriksen will compete in the men's doubles competition with Martin Lundgaard. Triple Olympian Eriksen has been playing for the past 30 years and accomplished numerous achievements. Together with former partner Malene Thomsen, Eriksen seized a bronze medal in the Athens Olympic Games. The Olympic Games in Beijing this August will be his last. As such, the 39-year-old is eyeing a medal.

Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen will also participate in the men's soubles. Considered Denmark's heroes, they won the first World Championships gold medal in men's soubles for Denmark in more than 20 years.

Women's doubles player Lena Frier Kristiansen will make her first Olympic appearance with 25-year-old Kamilla Rytter Juhl, who will also compete in the mixed doubles with Thomas Laybourn.

The drawing ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games badminton competition will be hosted by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in Beijing on July 26, 2008.

Tine Rasmussen (Photo credit: CFP)