Thai tae kwon do star Yaowapa Boorapolchai, Athens Olympics bronze medalist, showed her strong will to be crowned at the 24th Universiade, which will open on Wednesday on her home soil.

"I'm one of the best hopes of the host nation and I won't let them down," Yaowapa said.

Yaowapa returned from the previous Universiade in Turkey two years ago with a silver medal after losing the final to Chinese Taipei player Wu Yen-Ni.

"I will go for the gold only this time," Yaowapa said.

Yaowapa made a clean sweep at last year's Asian Championships and the World Cup Team Championships by defeating Chinese player Wu Jingyu twice, which were both held in Thailand.

At the recent World championships in Beijing, Yaowapa won a silver medal, while the gold was taken by Wu.

Yaowapa admitted that a daunting task awaits her in the Universiade competition due to the presence of strong opponents, particularly those from South Korea, China and Japan.

"Our rivals have now become even stronger this time," she said.

However, Li Yanling, head of the China taekwondo delegation, told Xinhua that Yaowapa's old rival Wu Jingyu was absent for the Universiade because of preparation for the Beijing Olympics.

And as Chinese players won't compete in the 51kg category in the Universiade, Yaowapa, who will go up a division and compete in the 51kg class won't come across any Chinese opponents this time.

Yaowapa said she has been training intensively from dawn till dusk.

"I just have one aim in mind - to win the gold for the Thai people," Yaowapa said.

Source: Xinhua