Kuala Lumpur, May 7: The Chinese Thomas and Uber Cup teams arrived here tonight but immediately played down their chances as the favourites for both tournaments.

Chinese coach Tang Hsien Hu insisted that China will start as the underdogs, obviously referring to his young singles line-up comprising Xia Xuanze and Ji Xinpeng who will be making their maiden appearance in the 2000 Thomas Cup challenge beginning on Thursday at the Putra Stadium.

"I can't speak highly of the team as Xuanze and Xinpeng are young and would be playing for the first time in a team event,¨ he said.

Hsien Hu who in his playing days was nicknamed 'Thing' agreed that Xuanze, the All England and Swiss Open men's singles champion and Xinpeng, the Japan Open winner last month, are the most improved and the hottest property in the Chinese team.

"But you must understand that this is not an individual event. This is a team event. Both the shuttlers can crack under pressure, playing in front of thousands of spectators,¨ said the former Chinese legend, who spend his younger days in Indonesia and coached the Indonesian team after he retired from first class badminton competitions.

He added that it would be more appropriate to tag the Chinese team as title contenders and not favourites.

Besides Xuanze and Xinpeng who would be playing the first and second singles respectively, China have world grand prix finals champion Sun Jun, 1999 Malaysian Open champion Luo Yigang and Cheng Hong, another promising youngster in the team.

When suggested that China have a powerful singles line-up but two mediocre doubles pairs, Hsien Hu said:"We don't have any advantage. As I said before, this is a team event and I feel we are balanced in many ways.¨

On Sun Jun's injury, he said the shuttler is now about 90% of his former strength.

"He should be back to full fitness by the time the tournament starts,¨ Hsien Hu added.