NICOLA Sanders insists she can put a smile on the face of the British team at the World Athletics Championships which start in Japan tonight.

With few medal hopes making the trip to Osaka, pundits are predicting a miserly medal haul.

But Amersham's one-lap wonder is upbeat having returned with a medal from her last four major championships and winning the European Indoor title this year.

She said: "At the beginning of the season my aim was to make the individual 400m final and nothing has changed.

"I certainly think I'm in good enough shape to do that and I'd be very disappointed if I didn't.

"We also know a medal is up for grabs in the relay.

"At the beginning of the season we didn't know what our team was going to be but we've got our best girls fit and ready now.

"We know it's going to be tough but we'll be one of the teams to beat."

Sanders was the baby of the team when she helped Britain's 4x400m quartet to bronze in Helsinki two years ago.

Commonwealth Games champion Christine Ohuruogu is back from a one-year ban and Britain's top choice quartet looks stronger than ever with Commonwealth silver medallist Lee McConnell and Donna Fraser completing the team.

Sanders spent last week at the Norwich Union training camp in Macau preparing for Japan's humid conditions and says she is fully fit, despite missing a chunk of the summer season through injury.

She said: "Injuries have set me back because you can't miss six weeks of the season and not expect there to be an effect.

"It was hard to get back into it when I got my fitness back, it was more a confidence thing than anything else. Now I'm raring to go and hopefully I've timed things okay and I'm coming into good shape at the perfect time."

She is training hard with the support from the UK Athletics performance team at the Norwich Union Preparation Camp in Macau ahead of the World Championships in Osaka.