The traditional International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour four-star event in Tokyo begins tomorrow and concludes on Sunday (July 28).

It is doubling as the test event for the sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Selected operational aspects of the Shiokaze Park venue will be scrutinised during the tournament, the FIVB said.

The competition, which offers Olympic qualifying points as well as a prize pool of $300,000 (£241,000/€268,000), has attracted a number of the world's best players.

The women's draw is headlined by world champions Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan of Canada, who arrive in the Japanese capital having won the recent three-star event in Edmonton.

Barbora Hermannová and Markéta Slukova of the Czech Republic are also be in action and will hope to return to form after they were knocked out of the FIVB World Tour in Espinho in the second round.

Brazil's Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa, and their compatriots, Barbara Seixas De Freitas and Fernanda Alves, are among the other entrants.

Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway lead the men's list, which also includes Brazil's Olympic gold medallist Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Morais Filho.

The tournament begins tomorrow with qualification, before main draw action starts on Thursday (July 25).

It is the latest in the "Ready Steady Tokyo" test event series.