The Badminton Association of Thailand aims to win a medal at next month's Sudirman Cup mixed team event.
However, BAT president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul admitted yesterday that the Thais may need luck of the draw for the knockout stages to achieve the feat.
The May 19-26 championship will be held in Nanning, China.
The top two sides of each of the three-team groups advance to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-final match-ups will be determined by a draw.
Seventh seeds Thailand should cruise into the quarter-finals.
Although the Thais are in the same group with top seeds Japan, the other side in their group are Russia, the lowest-ranked nation in the tournament.
"Japan are strong in all five events and likely to win the group,'' Patama told a press conference.
"We should beat Russia to qualify for the next round. If we avoid China or Japan in the quarter-finals, then we have a chance of winning a medal."
Thailand will take on Russia on May 21 and face Japan the following day.
Patama, who is also the manager of the team, said parties involved, including head coach Rexy Mainaky, had selected the country's best 16 players for the biennial event.
The squad is led by former world champion Ratchanok Intanon and mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who won the Singapore Open earlier this month.
