Scheduled to be held at the 3,000 capacity Hong Kong Velodrome, the event will be only the second time Asia has staged the Championships, despite them being held almost every year since 1893.

Maebashi was the first Asian location to stage the event, with the Japanese city hosting in 1990.

Last year the World Championships were held in London with Great Britain finishing top of the medal table with five golds and nine podium finishes in total.

Olympic champions Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Steven Burke and Callum Skinner have been named in the British squad of 20 riders, of which 10 will be making their World Championship debut.

Olympic champions Jason and Laura Kenny will miss out as the couple prepare for the birth of their child.

Germany finished second on the medal table in London last year with eight, including three golds, while Australia took third with five medals overall.

A total of 370 athletes from 42 countries are registered for this year's Championships. 

Titles will be awarded across 20 events, with the addition of the women's madison for the first time bringing gender parity to the programme for men and women.

Only one Olympic champion from the women's individual sprint events at Rio 2016 will compete in Hong Kong - Germany's sprint gold medallist Kristina Vogel.

Her biggest rival will undoubtedly be reigning sprint world champion and Olympic champion in the team sprint, Zhong Tianshi of China. 

Sarah Hammer of the United States, the Rio 2016 omnium silver medallist, will be a favourite for the podium in the same event, as well as the scratch race and points race.

Action is due to begin tomorrow with the men's and women's team sprint competitions and the women's scratch race.

The men's and women's team pursuit competitions and the men's keirin and scratch race will then take centre stage on Thursday (April 13).

Friday (April 14) will see the women's sprint and omnium, as well as the men's individual pursuit and points race.

The men's omnium, sprint, women's 500 metres time trial, women's madison and women's individual pursuit are then billed for Saturday (April 15).

Racing concludes on Sunday (April 16) with the women's keirin, women's points race, men's one kilometre time trial and men's madison.