Jonassen at the Beijing Olympics in 2008

Dane Kenneth Jonassen has been named as the new Great Britain and England men's singles coach.

The reigning European champion, who will attend this week's All-England Championships in Birmingham as Danish coach, begins the role on 12 July.

The 35-year-old said he hopes to "develop new talent that can compete with the best of China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark".

Jonassen's first competitive test is August's World Championships in Paris.

"I'm looking forward to the new challenge as head coach of singles in England. My personal goals are clear, bringing the singles department to another level on the international stage," Jonassen added.

Great Britain and England's men have been without a dedicated singles coach ever since Jonassen's compatriot Asger Madsen left his part-time role in the summer of 2009.

Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: "We are delighted to acquire Kenneth's services. It has been a long wait to get all the details confirmed but Kenneth is the man our performance director, Ian Moss, has always wanted."

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Moss said: "He brings a wealth of knowledge to our coaching team and exhibits a real sense of what it takes to create a medal-winning environment.

"The long-term aim is to prepare GB singles players for the Commonwealth Games in October, the World Championships in London in 2011 and the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

"We currently have three men in or around the top 30 in Rajiv Ouseph (number 23), Andrew Smith (26) and Carl Baxter (35).

"We believe Kenneth has the ability not only to move these players forward but also to develop a strong work ethic and focus on singles play for our coaches and athletes working with other promising younger players in the system."

Although he has no Olympic medals to his name, Jonassen enjoyed considerable success as a player, reaching a career-high world ranking of number two in 2005.

The right-handed twice Danish national champion has won six international Open titles, and in 2008 won gold at the European Championships in his hometown of Herning before retiring to take on his coaching role with Denmark.

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