Menezes, who became her country’s first female Olympic judo champion four years ago, has hit top form this year after winning the Havana Grand Prix, the Pan American Games and capturing silver at the World Masters.

Kazakhstan’s Olympic debutant Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh is expected to be among Menezes' challengers having won medals at her last eight events, including gold at the Paris Grand Slam and the Asian Championships. 

Mongolia’s first female world champion Munkhbat Urantsetseg, the reason Galbadrakh left Mongolia for Kazakhstan last year, is aiming to become her country’s first female Olympic champion in any sport, while former world champion Ami Kondo of Japan could also star. 

The one other category featuring on tomorrow’s programme is the men’s under 60kg, which will see Naohisa Takato look to bring the gold medal back to Japan for the first time since lightweight kingpin Tadahiro Nomura made it a hat-trick of Olympic titles at Athens 2004.

The 23-year-old, who ended his country’s 16-year wait for a under 60kg world title when he won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, will be one of the top seeds.

Last year, he won the World Masters as well as back-to-back Grand Slams in Paris and Tokyo, but was given somewhat of a wake-up call when he suffered a surprise first-round defeat to France’s Vincent Limare at this year’s World Masters in May. 

Double world bronze medallist Kim Won-Jin is widely tipped to make his mark for South Korea, who collectively possess one of the strongest teams in Rio de Janeiro. 

Kim, 24, is leading his country’s new generation of stars as one of the oldest and most experienced judoka in their talent-rich ranks. 

The Seoul-based fighter won the Dusseldorf Grand Prix this year, either side of bronze medals at the Paris Grand Slam and World Masters

World Masters winner Orkhan Safarov will be one of the top-eight seeds and should put Azerbaijan in medal contention, while world champion Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan won the Asian Championships in April and could star on day one. 

Judo is setting a participation record for the second successive Olympic Games as 390 judoka will compete from 136 nations. 

The official draw took place yesterday afternoon at the Teatro Bradesco in Barra da Tijuca.

"All the judoka here at Rio 2016 are winners and champions but unfortunately only a few of you can be champions," said Marius Vizer, President of the International Judo Federation. 

"I wish you all good luck, I hope you pay attention to the values of our sport, your focus has to be to set an example to those who are not only watching on television but also other sports.

“I encourage you to all keep your emotions under control by showing discipline and self-control. 

"I wish you all a successful Olympics in Rio."

Two categories will be contested on each day - one for men and one for women - over the next week, moving from the lightweights to the heavyweights.