The 25-year-old, who has been crowned World Taekwondo's "Male Athlete of the Year" on three occasions, comes into the event having won three out of four Grand Prix titles on offer.

He will begin his campaign with a quarter-final encounter against the winner of the first-round clash between Russia's Boris Krasnov and Mongolia's Temuujin Purevjav.

"Lee is an all-round technician who is especially good at adjusting to any opponent’s style," Jin-bang Yang, the chairman of World Taekwondo's Technical and Development Committee, said.  

"He is a natural talent and also a hard worker, which is a rare combination."

The only man in the category who has decisively defeated Lee in recent competition is Jordan's Ahmad Abughaush, who overcame the South Korean on his way to claiming Olympic gold at Rio 2016.

But Abughaush will not appear at the Wuxi Taihu International Expo Centre due to injury

His absence means Lee will be the number one seed.

If anyone has the weaponry to take out Lee, it is Rio 2016 silver medalist Alexey Denisenko of Russia.

He and Lee clashed for the gold medal at the 2017 Grand Prix Final in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, with the latter triumphing 14-13.

The two fighters have fought six times, with each one winning on three occasions.

In Wuxi, they are both on the same side of the match tree, which means they may fight in the semi-finals.

Among the category's dark horses is home favourite Shuai Zhao, the Rio 2016 gold medallist in the men's 58kg category, and Belgium's Jaouad Achab, the under-63kg world champion in 2015.

The other weight category due to take centre stage tomorrow is the highly-competitive women's under-67kg.

Among the names to watch out for at the top of the women's under-67kg division is number one seed and reigning Olympic champion Oh Hye-ri of South Korea.

Ivory Coast's Ruth Gbagbi and Turkey's Nur Tatar, the current world champions in the under-62kg and under-67kg divisions respectively, are expected to be Oh's biggest challengers.

The top three are threatened by two dark horses, Great Britain's Lauren Williams and home favourite Guo Yunfei.

Guo, Tatar, Gbagbi and Williams all won one Grand Prix each in 2017.

The Grand Slam Champions Series aims to professionalise and upgrade taekwondo's commercial appeal and media profile.

Unveiled and approved by the World Taekwondo Council in Muju last year, the series is invitational and will bring together 12 premier athletes in each weight category.

Each year, it will consist of eight separate tournaments to represent each Olympic taekwondo weight division - four men's and four women's.

The total prize money offered across the eight separate tournaments in the 2017-2018 series will be $760,000 (£565,000/€637,000).

The winner in each weight category will take home $70,000 (£52,000/€58,000).

The silver and bronze medallists will be awarded $20,000 (£15,000/€17,000) and $5,000 (£3,700/€4,200) respectively.

The first two weight categories, the men's under-80kg and women's under-67kg, took centre stage last Saturday (December 30).

The other four weight categories will be spread evenly across the following two Saturdays.