Among the leading names set to battle it out for the eight world titles on offer at the Adriatic Arena in the Italian town are International Gymnastics Federation World Cup and World Challenge Cup series all-around winners Neviana Vladinova of Bulgaria and Katsiaryna Halkina of Belarus.

Other notable gymnasts set to compete are Georgia’s Salome Pazhava, the United States’ Laura Zeng, Japan’s Kaho Minagawa, Kazakhstan’s Sabina Ashirbayeva, Austria’s Nicol Ruprecht and Uzbekistan’s Anastasiya Serdyukova.

They will be joined by the likes of Romania’s Ana Luiza Filiorianu, China’s Shang Rong, Brazil’s Natalia Gaudio and Australia’s Danielle Prince.

The absence of Russia's Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavsteva, gold and silver medallists at Rio 2016, along Ukriaine's bronze medallist Ganna Rizatdinova, means that no Olympic podium-finishers will participate in the individual competition.

Kudryavsteva, who grabbed three consecutive world all-around titles from 2013 to 2015, and is the reigning world champion with the ball, clubs and ribbon, announced her retirement in January.

Olympic all-around champion Mamun, who also captured the world hoop title in 2015, is on hiatus.

A number of gymnasts have distinguished themselves in major international competitions this year, including identical twins Dina and Arina Averina of Russia, who accounted for all of the gold medals at the World Games in Polish city Wrocław last month.

Italy's first World Championships in the discipline provides the opportunity for the country's famed rhythmic group, the "Farfalle", to make their mark in front of a home crowd.

Olympic champions Russia, meanwhile, have retained three of the five members of their gold medal-winning group from Rio 2016 - Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva.

Tolkacheva and Tatareva also helped the group win the world all-around title in 2015.

Spain and Bulgaria, the respective Rio 2016 silver and bronze medallists, have come to Pesaro with completely new groups of gymnasts.

Athens 2004 Olympic champion and nine-time world champion Alina Kabaeva is due to present the gold medal to the individual all-around champion.

She will be at the World Championships in an ambassadorial role, serving as an inspirational role model for young gymnasts.