Laos is sending one of its strongest ever teams to next month's Asian Games in Doha, although nearly half of its contingent are state officials.

The cash-strapped country, which is famous for its excessive bureaucracy, will send 14 staff to accompany its 16 athletes, who will compete in seven of the 39 sports.

Somphou Phongsa, deputy secretary-general of Laos's Olympic committee, said the team had prepared well for the Games and was sure they would improve on their previous tally of two bronze medals.

"This will be our best Asian Games team yet because we have had the best preparation," Somphou told Reuters by telephone.

"Maybe we can get a silver medal. If we did, this would be a great achievement for us."

Laos is one of Asia's poorest countries and its tiny teams have enjoyed little success in the international sporting arena.

At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, it sent seven government officials to oversee two runners and a swimmer, with the International Olympic Committee picking up the tab.

But in an unprecedented move last year, the communist government forked out money to hire foreign coaches and sent its top boxers and martial art teams to Cuba, South Korea and China for training.

Somphou said the Laotian team had more support and more time to prepare for the Doha Games, although he insisted a gold medal was out of the question.

"There's no chance of a gold medal. This is elite level sport, almost Olympic standard, and that level is too high for us," he said.

"We are aiming to beat the best that we've done before, so we're targeting at least two or three bronze medals."

Laos will take part in swimming, athletics, judo, karate, taekwondo and boxing in Doha, but its best chance of success is likely to be in wushu, where it picked up two bronze to finish 32nd in the medals table at the 2002 Games in Pusan.

The Asian Games run from December1-15.