Ukraine's Georgii Zantaraia will be aiming to claim his sixth gold medal at an IJF Grand Prix when Zagreb plays host to the final event before next month’s World Championships this weekend ©Getty Images

Ukraine's Georgii Zantaraia will be hoping to claim his sixth gold medal at an International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Prix when Zagreb plays host to the final event before next month’s World Championships this weekend.

The 2009 world champion and three-times European champion last triumphed on the IJF Grand Prix stage at the 2015 edition of the event in Croatia’s capital, beating Germany’s Sebastian Seidl to top honours in the men’s under-66 kilograms category.

He came close to repeating his success last year, but lost in the final to Israel’s Tal Flicker.

A total of 558 athletes from 87 nations are scheduled to compete across three days of action at the Dom Sportova.

There were around 700 registrations but a number of athletes pulled out, including world champion Guram Tushishvili of Georgia.

Men’s over-100kg rival Teddy Riner of France is present, though, as he bids to build up a position in the world ranking following his highly-anticipated return to the sport earlier this month.

He is expected to face a strong challenge from the likes of Israel's Or Sasson, the winner of the over-100kg title at the IJF Grand Prix in Hungary's capital Budapest two weeks ago.

The IJF Grand Prix in Zagreb comes less than a month before the start of the World Championships in Tokyo, where competition is due to be held from August 25 to 31.

IJF President Marius Vizer has billed it as a pivotal event for all judoka on the circuit.

"The Croatian Judo Federation is a very professional national federation and they are developing grassroots strategies that will shape the sport in the country long into the future," he said.

"I wish good luck to all the delegations present in our latest Grand Prix event and send my best wishes to the Croatian Judo Federation who are ready to welcome the world to Zagreb."

Watch all the action on Judo TV.