Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson was due to be named in Britain's badminton squad for Beijing today, only two weeks after undergoing surgery on a persistent ankle injury.

Robertson is now facing a race against time to be fit to partner Gail Emms in the mixed doubles at this summer's Olympics, when their aim will be to go one better than in Athens four years ago.

England head coach Ian Wright said: "It's a fact that Nathan has been under-prepared for every tournament for the past six months.

"We were hoping he wouldn't need an operation before the Olympics but the medical opinion was that it was more prudent to get it cleared up and give him peace of mind.

"It's just unfortunate the recovery period cuts into our Olympic preparation programme."

European champions Donna Kellogg and Anthony Clark have also qualified for the mixed doubles, while Emms and Kellogg will team up in the women's doubles.

Emms has already confirmed that Beijing will be her last bid for Olympic glory and her hopes of signing off on a high note won't have been helped by confirmation from the Badminton World Federation that there will only be four seeds in each event.

Emms, with partners Robertson and Kellogg, is ranked six in both the mixed and women's doubles.

Andrew Smith, the Indian Open semi-finalist, will make his Olympic debut in the men's singles, while Commonwealth champion Tracey Hallam goes in the women's singles.