Defending champion Jang Jun, left, is among a strong contingent of South Korean fighters ©Getty Images

More than 700 athletes from 120 nations are set to compete at the long-awaited World Taekwondo Championships here.

It has been three years since the previous edition was held in Manchester after the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to efforts to stage the event in Chinese city Wuxi last year.

The Mexican seaside resort of Cancun had been named as the replacement host before Guadalajara was handed the rights.

A total of 16 weight divisions will be contested with the women’s under-57 kilograms and men’s under-80kg categories set to be the first to be decided tomorrow.

South Korean trio Bae Jun-seo, Jang Jun and Lee Da-bin, British pair Bradly Sinden and Jade Jones, Thai duo Panipak Wongpattanakit and Phannapa Harnsujin, Italy’s Simone Alessio, Cuban Rafael Alba and China’s Zhang Mengyu have all arrived in the Mexican city determined to defend their titles following  success at Manchester 2019.

The Russian Olympic Committee were the top team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Brazilian Icaro Miguel Soares, left, a silver medallist at Manchester 2019, will be hoping to go one better in Guadalajara ©Getty Images
Brazilian Icaro Miguel Soares, left, a silver medallist at Manchester 2019, will be hoping to go one better in Guadalajara ©Getty Images

However, there will be no Russian or Belarusian presence at the tournament after World Taekwondo banned athletes and officials from the two nations in response to the war in Ukraine.

The decision means reigning world and Olympic champion Vladislav Larin of Russia will be unable to retain his men's under-87kg title, opening the door for Brazil’s top seed Icaro Miguel Soares to go one better than he did in 2019.

Vito Dell'Aquila of Italy, Ulugbek Rashitov of Uzbekistan, Wongpattanakit, Anastasija Zolotic of the United States and Matea Jelić of Croatia are other Tokyo 2020 gold medallists that are in the field.

Brazil are expected to do well in Guadalajara with Soares, Caroline Santos and Edival Pontes all ranked as top seeds in their weight categories.

France are also set to be in the mix for top honours with Magda Wiet-Hénin and Althéa Laurin headlining the respective women’s under-67kg and under-73kg divisions.

The men’s under-68kg and under-74kg classes have the biggest fields with 57 athletes in each including top seeds Sinden and Pontes.

Mexico named a 16-strong team for the tournament with home gold-medal hopes resting on Fabiola Guadalupe Villegas who is seeded first in the women’s under-53kg category.