Li Yongbo, the country's head coach, claimed that they were considering leaving the event because of fears that security was not tight enough.

 

He said: "There is possibility that China will withdraw from the tournament due to security concerns.

 

"There are World Championships every year.

 

"The players' safety is much more important than the competition.

 

"We have to admit the organising committee did make great efforts but I think it's still not enough.

 

"We can have so many policemen but there are still other people coming in and out of the hotel without restrictions."

 

England had pulled-out of the event on Sunday, a day before it started, because they claimed they had received details of a specific threat from Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan group who were behind the terrorist attack on Mumbai last November.

 

Li said the Chinese team had started working on the return tickets and would decide whether to stay after speaking to Sports Minister Liu Peng later today.

 

The withdrawal of the Chinese would be an even bigger blow to the tournament than England.

 

The team is the dominant world power in the sport and at last year's Olympics in Beijing won three of the five gold medals available, finishing top of the medals table with a total of five.

 

But V.K Verma, the vice-president of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and President of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), claimed that he knew nothing of the Chinese threat.

 

He said: "I have the entire BWF team with me.

 

"Nothing like that has come to our notice.

 

"The Chinese coach has gone on record saying he is more than happy with the arrangements, particularly with the security cover."