Chinese great Lin Dan leads the field at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters, which begins today.
Also in the tournament are Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol, the women's top seed, Canada's Michelle Li, and Malaysian pairs Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong and Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying.
Lin is the top seed in the men's singles and could face in the quarter-finals Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen, who will be hoping to reclaim his place in the top 10 after injury-afflicted seasons.
Li, winner of the Macau Open last year, is seeded third in the women's singles behind Nitchaon and China's Gao Fangjie.
Li had a strong finish to last season, giving a good account of herself at the BWF World Tour Finals.
The Canadian will seek to build on her recent performances with a strong showing at Bangkok's Indoor Stadium, Hua Mark.
A host of promising players will play in the tournament.
Overall, there are several emerging players, including many who competed at the World Junior Championships, contesting in Bangkok.
Among them are world junior champions Liu Xuanxuan/Xia Yuting of China in the women's doubles, Youth Olympic runner-up Wang Zhiyi of China (women's singles), Indonesian mixed doubles talent Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, and Thailand's world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn (men's singles).
Vitidsarn is one of several young men's singles talent that has emerged recently from Thailand with others including Khosit Phetpradab, Kantaphon Wangcharoen and Sitthikom Thammasin.
The BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament offers a total prize money of US$150,000 (approximately 4.9 million baht).
Thailand had their most successful campaign at the tournament last year when they won three titles.
Nitchaon, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai and Tinn Isriyanet/Kittisak Namdash claimed the women's singles, women's doubles and men's doubles honours respectively.
Nitchaon will face a qualifier in the first round.
