Gail Emms, the Olympic silver medallist, will celebrate her ten-year anniversary of topping the world rankings by taking on the best players in the country later this month.

The English National Badminton Championships are being held at the K2 in Crawley and former world champion Emms, who already has 12 national titles to her name, will return to contest the mixed doubles – a decade after becoming the world No. 1.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal winners and world No. 6 pair, Chris and Gabby Adcock, lead the nation’s big names who will be heading to Crawley from January 30- February 1.

Top men’s singles player Rajiv Ouseph will also be chasing an amazing eighth consecutive national title, while Sussex’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Heather Olver will be hoping to win on her home patch.

Emms last won the mixed doubles national title nine years ago, when she paired Nathan Robertson to glory in Manchester, but will play with Cheshire’s rising star Matthew Nottingham, the 2011 European junior champion, in Crawley.

The 37-year-old said: “This year is a big milestone for me as I celebrate the ten-year anniversary of becoming world No. 1 as well as some big achievements on the international scene, such as winning the All England title.

“I want the badminton community to come out and support our top players again. Glasgow 2014 was a great success for English badminton and a lot of those stars will be on show at the K2.

“It’s a great intimate venue and really goes back to the roots of the Nationals.”

After a five-year break from competitive top class badminton, Emms briefly came out of retirement to compete at last year’s Championships, reaching the quarter-finals in both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

She is one of more than 200 of England’s best badminton players who will head to the K2 Crawley to compete for national titles.