Malaysia's Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong will be medal challengers

Non-Commonwealth country China may be the dominant force in world badminton but in their absence there are plenty of top performers looking to take their chance on the big stage.

Malaysia are one of the premier badminton nations on the planet and almost 40% of the 128 medals they have won at the Commonwealth Games have come in the sport.

Malaysia won four of the six golds in Melbourne last time and lie second in the overall badminton medals table behind England, who have the experienced Nathan Robertson leading their challenge.

In the men's singles, world number one and defending Commonwealth champion Lee Chong Wei is the favourite. He has won six title this year, including the All England event, but he will be looking to make up for a disappointing performance at the recent World Championships in Paris where he lost in the quarter-finals.

Top 20 players Rajiv Ouseph (England) and Chetan Anand of India, who won bronze four years ago, will also be hoping for success, along with Malaysia's 2002 Commonwealth champion Hafiz Hashim.

Malaysian world number one pair Koo Kien Keat and Tan Hoon Beong will be hot favourites for the men's doubles title. Koo won the Commonwealth title four years ago with Chan Chong Ming while Tan will be making his Games debut.

England's Robertson will team up with Anthony Clark - the pair have plenty of experience and could challenge for a medal.

India's Saina Nehwal could give the home fans something to celebrate in the women's singles but her biggest threat could be Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong, who won silver four years ago.

Scotland's Susan Egelstaff (nee Hughes) is Britain's top-ranked player and won bronze in Melbourne.

Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty of Malaysia are the defending women's doubles champions but Wong will miss the Games to have knee surgery, so Chin will form a scratch pairing with Woon Khe Wei.

Their main challengers are likely to be Singapore duo of Shinta Mulia and Sari-Yao Lei, who defied the odds to win the Singapore Open and the India Open Grand Prix gold earlier this year.

England's Robertson, who won mixed doubles gold four years ago with Gail Emms, has a new partner in Jenny Wallwork and will be hoping to make it back-to-back titles but the biggest threat comes from India's Jwala Gutta and V Diju, and Malaysia's Koo and Chin Eei Hui.

Theteam event is not contested at the Olympics or World Championships but Malaysia have a good chance of retaining the Commonwealth title they won in Melbourne with Lee and men's doubles pair Koo and Tan in their line-up.

The main challengers are likely to be England, India and Singapore.

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