SOME of the world’s best badminton players will be heading to Wales next week for the Yonex Welsh International Championships.

The premier event in the Badminton Wales calendar runs from Wednesday, November 27, to Saturday, November 30, at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

The Welsh International was upgraded last year from a Series to a Challenger event, a status which has been maintained this year in a bid to attract the world’s best to the Welsh capital.

This year’s competition will see more than 300 entries from all over the world, including Malaysia, India, New Zealand, Australia and many European countries.

Nine Welsh players have entered into their home event, including a number of senior international players who are hoping to clock up valuable ranking points in a bid to qualify for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

The Glasgow 2014 hopefuls are Carissa Turner, Sarah Thomas, Joe Morgan, Nic Strange and Daniel Font.

All of the Welsh players entered are part of the High Performance Centres in Wales.

Cwmbran’s Michael Kinnear, ranked number three in Wales, plays his first round qualification match on Wednesday against England’s Andrew Kindred

Welsh international Turner said: “The Welsh International is always a special tournament but it also comes with added pressure.

“It's very strong this year which is great because there will be a lot more competitive matches to be seen. I'm hoping to do well on home soil.”

Top Welsh male player Dan Font said: “As always, I am looking forward to the Welsh International.

“Last year's upgrade to a challenger level event has really brought in some of the best players from across the world this year.

“Of course this means it will be tough but I'm hoping that the home crowd realise how important their support is and that I can reward them with some hard fought matches.”

Turner meets Sweden’s Matilda Petersen in the women’s singles qualification and could encounter a tough second round match in the form of fourth seed Natalia Perminova from Russia.

In the first round of the men’s singles Font will tackle the seventh qualifier and may have to contend with second seed Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine in the second round.

Play starts at 9am on Wednesday and Thursday, 10am on Friday and 11am on Saturday.