Competition is due to take place in two venues, with water polo at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium indoor pool and synchronised swimming, swimming and diving held in the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center.

Water polo competition will take all the attention for the opening three days of the Championships, with the event due to take place until Sunday (November 20).

The remaining events are scheduled to begin on Thursday (November 17), with four packed days of action then set to take place.

Organisers expect more than 400 athletes to participate in swimming competition at the Championships, with Japan’s Masato Sakai one of the star names on show.

The 21-year-old won an Olympic silver medal behind the United States’ Michael Phelps in the men’s 200 metres butterfly at Rio 2016.

He will be a focus of attention in the build-up to Tokyo 2020 and he will hope to make a strong impression in front of a home crowd.

Daiya Seto, a bronze medallist in the 400m individual medley at Rio 2016, will also be expected to challenge for gold this week in Tokyo.

The Japanese team consists of 39 swimmers but their Olympic champions Kosuke Hagino and Rie Kaneto will be absent.

Japan will hope to close the gap on China this week, with their rivals having dominated the Championships four years ago in Dubai when they earned 33 gold medals in swimming events.

The Japanese team were second on the medals table, but they claimed only three golds in Dubai.