Thailand's international tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan's decision to return to Thailand's Asian Games tennis team has made the squad the hot favorites to win the gold medal in the men's team event in Doha.

After he tamed Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea in straight sets in front of a heart-broken partisan crowd in South Korea in the 2002 Asian Games men's singles final, Paradorn announced he would not be playing in any more Asian Games, citing his need to focus on his personal goals.

But a few months ago, the country's first Asian Games singles tennis gold medallist changed his mind and declared he would make the trip to Doha and attempt to win the gold medal for Thai King to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne.

"This is an auspicious year, so everyone would like to do something special for His Majesty. That's why I decided to go and defend my gold medal. We are all inspired to try even harder this time," said Paradorn, who already has two Asian Games gold medals in his collection -- the other is the doubles gold medal he won with brother Narathorn in Bangkok eight years ago.

Back in 2002 Paradorn was the only player of note from Asia on the professional tour, but things have changed in the past four years. He will face far more competitive contenders this time.

Lu Yen-hsun, ranked No. 103 in the world, and Wang Yeu-tzuoo (No.143) of Chinese Taipei and even countryman Danai Udomchoke (No.89) are all capable of upsetting the Thai Tiger.

His most dangerous rival for the gold medal is 2002 finalist Lee, who overtook Paradorn as the top ranked Asian in 2006. Lee is now ranked 48th, five places above the Thai. The South Korean has been at the peak in his career and recently upset two top 10 players -- Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and Tommy Robredo of Spain.

But taking their head-to-head meetings into consideration, Paradorn has a 4-2 edge over the South Korean. In fact, he has not lost to Lee in their last four matches dating back to 2001. "Lee is very confident now, but so I am," Paradorn told Thai newspaper The Nation. "We should meet in the final. But there are good players from Japan and Uzbekistan that shouldn't be written off."

"They are doing great on the tour and can beat everyone in the Asian Games," added Paradorn, who is recovering from a wrist injury.

Led by two top 100 players and with back up from doubles experts Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana, the Thai men's team is the strongest the country has ever produced.

"If we are not too unlucky, we should win the men's team gold medal," Paradorn said.

On the women's side Tamarine Tanasugarn, now a veteran, will be playing in her fourth successive Asian Games. She has bitter memories of the two previous Asian Games, losing two back-to-back finals to Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia at home in 1998 and to Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan four years ago.

After finishing second two times in a row, Tamarine, who is world No. 68, said she had enough of the silver medals and announced her strong determination to win the gold medal this time.

"I'm sick of the silver medals already. I think it's time to win the gold. I will fight hard to make a breakthrough," said the highly determined Tamarine.

Yet the star-studded Chinese squad, which features world No. 21Li Na, No. 33 Zheng Jie, No. 55 Peng Shuai, and No. 80 Sun Tian-tian, is a Herculean task for the Thai. Not to mention two promising Japanese players -- Aiko Nakamura, No. 58, and Akiko Morigami, No. 87, plus Indian ace Sania Mirza, No. 67.

Tamarine believes she still has what it takes to defeat those rising Asian stars. After struggling most of the season outside the top 100, she climbed back into the top 100 rankings by reaching the final of the 200,000 US dollars Bangkok Open in October.

"The Chinese girls are all tough, but I think I can catch up with them and have no fear of anyone at the Asian Games. Besides, I have been training hard and my confidence is back," said Tamarine, whose teammates will be Suchanan Viratprasert and Montinee Tangphong.

While she has high hopes in the singles, she did not foresee much chance in the team event.

"The overall picture of our team is not as tough as China and Japan. But the bronze medal should not be too much to reach. If our girls play at the top of their games, it could be our day," she said.