Thai tennis star Tamarine Tanasugarn will be playing in her fourth successive Olympics after receiving a special invitation from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Tuesday.

She thus becomes the 51st national athlete of Thailand to book a ticket for the Games.

The Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand (LTAT) said it was informed by the ITF that there had been four withdrawals and Tamarine was handed a special invitation because of her impressive run in the last two months, the Bangkok Post newspaper said on Wednesday.

"The ITF mentioned in a statement that Tamarine had been given a chance to play at the 2008 Olympic Games because she had shown a great performance in June and July," said LTAT secretary-general Bannawit Kengrien.

Tamarine won the Ordina Open in the Netherlands after beating French Open finalist Dinara Safina of Russia in the final.

The Thai, who is currently number 38 in the world, went on to beat second-seeded Jelena Jankovic to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before losing to eventual champion Venus Williams.

"Thanks to her outstanding performance, the ITF decided to give one of the special invitations to Tamarine," said Adm Bannawit.

The players who pulled out were France's Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo, Italy's Karin Knapp and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.

Tamarine's father Veerachai Tanasugarn, a former basketball player who played in the Olympics in the 1960s, will be in Beijing as Tamarine's coach.

"I am very happy to hear the good news for my daughter. She always wants to play for Thailand," he said. "This will be her last Olympics as she will be 35 in the next Games."

Tamarine will become the second Thai athlete to participate in four Olympics after swimmer Rattapong Sirisanont.

"I'm glad to be the first woman to play in four Olympics. I have no other choice but do my best in my fourth Games which could be my last," said Tamarine.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2008)