Organisers are expecting 803 athletes from 102 countries to take part in competition which will feature men's and women's individual and team events in foil, épée and sabre disciplines.

Russia emerged as the top nation at last year's World Championships in the Hungarian capital Budapest, winning 11 medals in total including three gold.

Veniamin Reshetnikov overcame compatriot Nikolay Kovalev in the final of the men's sabre while both men were part of the Russian side that claimed team sabre gold.

Tatayana Andryushina, Voiletta Kolobova, Anna Sivkova and Yana Zvereva took the women's team épée title.

Italy also won three gold medals in Budapest, including individual women's foil in the form of Arianna Errigo, who joined fellow Olympic gold medallists Elisa di Francisca and Valentina Vezzali in winning the team foil competition.

The Italian quartet of Valerio Aspromonte, Giorgio Avola, Andrea Baldini and Andrea Cassara overcame the United States in the men's team foil event.

Arianna Errigo won two World Championship golds in Budapest last year ©AFP/Getty Images



Miles Chamley-Watson was part of that US side and he will be the man to beat in the individual foil event after defeating Russian Artur Akhmatkhuzin in last year's World Championship final.

Estonians Nikolai Novosjolov and Julia Beljajeva are the reigning men's and women's individual épée world champions and will be the ones to watch again in Kazan.

Hungary's Olympic champion Aaron Szilagyi looks set to challenge Reshetnikov and Kovalev in the men's individual sabre, while Ukraine will be looking to at least match its medal haul from last year when Olha Kharlan took women's sabre gold and was also part of the team sabre gold medal-winning squad.

Kazan was awarded the World Championships after original hosts Sofia in Bulgaria pulled out of staging the event due to financial reasons last year.

Next year's Championships will also take place in Russia after Moscow was the only candidate to submit a bid.

Hungary's Olympic champion Aaron Szilagyi will be out to add a World Championship title to his collection ©Getty Images



The majority of teams have arrived in Kazan ahead of the Championships, including the Canadian squad led by head coach Stephen Amell, who will be looking for a big improvement from last year when Canada failed to medal.

"We've been staying in Kazan for two days now and are looking forward to the moment when the competition begins," said Amell.

"We like it here - we have a nice lodging, a comfortable training hall and an excellent competition venue.

"Everything is perfect now.

"I think that getting medals is a challenging task for us but it would come as a pleasant surprise.

"We will be very happy if it happens."

The individual competitions in Kazan, which get underway tomorrow, are first up for decision with the team events starting on Sunday (July 20) and running through until July 23.

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