Luxembourg is due to play host to a FIE Sabre World Cup for men at the Centre National d’Escrime, while Greece is scheduled to stage a FIE Sabre World Cup for women at Athens Olympic Complex. 

Hungary's capital Budapest, meanwhile, is ready to welcome male and female athletes to the Ludovika Aréna for a FIE Épée Grand Prix.

Individual competition at both FIE World Cups will be held tomorrow and on Saturday (March 7), prior to the team events on Sunday (March 8).

At the FIE Épée Grand Prix, there will be men's qualification tomorrow, women's qualification on Saturday and the conclusion of both events on Sunday.

Among the leading contenders for success in Athens is Russia's Sofya Velikaya, ranked second in the world rankings behind Ukraine's Olga Kharlan who will not be competing.

Velikaya lost to Kharlan in the women's sabre final at last year's World Fencing Championships in Budapest.

Over in Luxembourg, reigning world champion Oh Sang-uk of South Korea and Germany's Max Hartung are the top two seeds.

As for the event in Budapest, Russia's Sergey Bida is the men's top seed and Romania's Ana Maria Popescu is the women's top seed.

Italy's Andrea Santarelli and reigning world champion Gergely Siklósi of Hungary are expected to be Bida's main challengers, while world number one Popescu is likely to face stiff competition from world silver medallist Lin Sheng of China and South Korea's Choi In-jeong.