Olympic medal-winner Simon Archer wants to bow out with a bang, rather than a whimper, after revealing that next week's Yonex All England Championship will be his last.
The 31-year-old Midlander intends to make 2006 his final season in international badminton and he is planning his swansong at the sport's most prestigious tournament, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham next week.
The Worcester-based player, who famously partnered Jo Goode to win the All England mixed doubles in 1999 and then the Olympic Games bronze medal in 2000, will compete in both the men's and mixed doubles.
He teams up with David Lindley in the men's and forms a new partnership with Ella Tripp in the mixed.
Archer, who is warming up for Birmingham at this week's German Open in Mulheim, said: "There comes to a stage in your career when you have to say 'enough is enough' and you have to plan for the future.
"I have the chance to run my dad's motor business in Worcester - we make radiator caps for cars. He wants me to do that, so that he can take a back seat.
"I had wanted to finish at the 2007 All England, but I have to be realistic after all the knee trouble I have had.
"I've got still got several targets in mind this year, but I don't think I will be back at the NIA again.
"After all the problems I've had with injuries in recent years, I would love to go out on a high. There are no big expectations now, but I'm just as competitive, The biggest target is to play to the best of my ability because, in the last few years, injuries have stopped me from doing that."
Archer's glowing career includes Commonwealth and European gold medals, plus silver and bronze medals in the World Championships and he is hoping to feature in all three events again. Selectors name the Commonwealth Games team straight after the All England, while the Europeans are staged in Holland in April and the Worlds in Madrid.
Meanwhile, defending champions Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms will only be third seeds for this year's All England.
Robertson and Emms are ranked behind the world No 1 pair, Korea's Lee Jae-Jin and Lee Hyo-Jung with the world champions, Indonesia's Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, the second seeds.
Emms and Donna Kellogg are ranked fourth in the women's doubles, in which the top seeds, Chinese pair Gao Ling and Huang Sui, are chasing a sixth successive All England crown.
The best hopes of Midlands success will be provided by Staffordshire's Tracey Hallam.
The Burton-on-Trent player, who won the Chinese Taipei Open in November, is seeded eighth as she bids to repeat her efforts in reaching the quarter-finals in the worlds in the summer.
