With rounds already having been staged in Suzhou and Astana this summer, the Grand Prix returns to the city that hosted the inaugural event last December, at the historic and highly impressive venue, Manchester Central.

The Grand Prix series was borne from a hugely successful Olympic Games for taekwondo at London 2012 and from recognition by the sport's leadership, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), of the need for more regular competition at the highest level for the sport's best athletes. And more head to head meetings for the sport's top stars.

It wasn't long after Jade Jones' memorable celebration at the ExCel Arena that the WTF began to develop the concept of the Grand Prix with detailed input from GB Taekwondo and the support of stakeholders, UK Sport and Manchester City Council. Eighteen months later and a new event was born, one which was screened live in the UK by the BBC, a first for taekwondo outside of an Olympics, and which was broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide.

The World Taekwondo Grand Prix series was launched successfully last year in Manchester ©Getty Images

The success of the Grand Prix hinges on its ability to attract the best male and female athletes across the eight Olympic weight categories. With the subsequent restructuring of the sport's ranking system, athletes such as Olympic champion Jones and her Spanish rival, the new world number one Eva Calvo Gomez, are incentivised to compete throughout the series, so as to improve their chance of Rio 2016 qualification.

Added to that is the offer of prize money at each event in the series, the only tournament on the international circuit that also offers a financial reward to the athletes.

Jones and Gomez have already met in two Grand Prix finals over the past 12 months, as well as the European Championships final in Baku, with the Spaniard narrowly taking gold on each occasion. Flintshire's finest will be looking to exact revenge in front of a passionate home crowd.

The Grand Prix now provides a global showcase for the sport where new rivalries are being created and are regularly renewed. Where narratives are developed, headlines created and crucially, where both broadcast and commercial interest in taekwondo is increased. That's the challenge for any sport and none more so than taekwondo. Whilst it may be a 2,000-year-old martial art, it's a relative newcomer in Olympic terms but has made swift headway.

It is no secret that the sport has received more than its share of headlines at and ahead of recent Games but it has also been quick to adapt and to modernise. Britain's first Olympic medallist, Sarah Stevenson, inadvertently contributed to the introduction of electronic scoring following the Beijing Olympics Games of 2008. Stevenson now sits on the WTF's Executive Council, who in turn has sanctioned the use of electronic headgear for the first time in Manchester next weekend.

Britain's Sarah Stevenson found herself at the centre of a judging controversy during Beijing 2008, something which has led to fundamental changes in taekwondo's scoring system ©Getty Images

That represents another first for the city and for a sport that continues to innovate as it seeks to strengthen both its reputation as one of the Olympics' most dynamic sports and to demonstrate its huge potential as a Paralympic sport of the future.

Jones v Gomez, Cook v Muhammad, Cho v Obame. Just a few of the emerging rivalries that will have taekwondo fans enthralled at the upcoming Grand Prix, and on the Road to Rio.

The World Taekwondo Grand Prix takes place at Manchester Central between October 24 and 26. Tickets are available by clicking here. 

Steve Flynn is the operations director of GB Taekwondo