Hong Kong badminton coach Chan Chi-choi fears his players could be literally blown away at the World Championships starting today. The SAR's team of shuttlers arrived on Friday to prepare for their assault on the seven-day tournament at the 16,500-capacity Arrowhead Pond arena. And Chan has wasted no time in voicing concern over playing conditions at the competition venue, the home of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks during the NHL ice-hockey season. Chan said the powerful air-conditioning at Arrowhead Pond centre was causing shuttlecocks to swerve erratically in mid-flight and threatened to spoil the spectacle of the biennial extravaganza. 'You can see it quite clearly - the shuttle is moving around a lot because there is a lot of cross-wind caused by the air-conditioning,' Chan said. 'I'm going to raise it at the team managers' meeting to see if something can be done. It is the same for all teams but it is going to spoil the quality of the championships if the players can't follow the line of the shuttle.' Similar problems dogged the 2001 World Championships in Seville, but Chan said he was surprised to see that US authorities had not taken it into account. 'It's not the first time America has hosted a major badminton tournament - the conditions at the competition in Atlanta [at the 1996 Olympics] were perfect.' Hong Kong's challenge at a world championships, expected to be dominated by China, starts today when Li Wing-mui and Louisa Koon Wai-chee meet Icelandic duo Sara Jonsdottir and Ragna Ingolfsdottir in the opening round of the women's doubles. Yip Pui-yin takes on Spaniard Laura Molina in the women's singles before Li teams up with Albertus Susanto Njoto in the mixed doubles. Njoto and Li will be expected to progress against Poland's Michal Logosz and Kamila Augustyn, as will men's singles ninth seed Ng Wei, who takes on New Zealand's John Moody. Ng and women's singles fourth seed Wang Chen will carry the flag for Hong Kong as they attempt to win the SAR's first ever world championships medal. 'Our initial target is for Wang to get to the quarter-finals and for Ng to finish in the last 16,' Chan said. 'If they get that far then obviously we will start targeting a medal.' Wang has been given a bye into the second round and has been given a kind draw that should see her safely into the quarter-finals, where she is likely to face China's eighth-seeded Zhou Mi. Chinese players are the number one seeds in three of the five events at the championships, fuelling dreams of a clean sweep of titles for the mainland. Chan said he expected China to dominate but much would depend on world number one Lin Dan. Lin's occasionally flaky form in tournaments - he suffered a shock first-round exit at the Olympics last year - and the fact that only two top seeds out of 10 have ever landed the men's crown both mean that nothing should be taken for granted. 'Lin is the favourite for the men's title,' Chan said. 'But he was also expected to win in Athens last year and he lost in the first round.' Chinese second seeds Zhang Jun and Gao Ling's chances in the mixed doubles have meanwhile received a boost courtesy of the transport chaos at London Heathrow Airport caused by striking British Airways workers last week. English top seeds Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, Olympic silver medallists in Athens, were due to leave together on Friday but were not now expected to reach Anaheim until today, leaving them only a day to acclimatise before their opening match.