The Italian city of Bari is preparing to host two Taekwondo Europe events ©Taekwondo Europe

The Italian city of Bari is preparing to host the Extra European Games and Open European Para-taekwondo Championships.

The Open European Para-taekwondo Championships are scheduled for October 31, with 239 athletes from 46 counties expected to compete. 

Twenty-one participants will be from outside Europe, with the event open to all. 

Coming from 45 countries, 213 elite athletes will then contest the Extra European Games from November 1 to 3. 

Bari's PalaFlorio will host both Taekwondo Europe events ©Taekwondo Europe
Bari's PalaFlorio will host both Taekwondo Europe events ©Taekwondo Europe

With taekwondo dropped from the European Games programme after the inaugural edition in Baku in 2015, the event in Bari aims to compensate European athletes who would have otherwise missed out on the opportunity to collect ranking points for Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification. 

The line-up features Olympic medallists such as Britain's Jade Jones, Bianca Walkden and Mahama Cho, Radik Isaev of Azerbaijan, Alexey Denisenko of Russia and Tatar Nur of Turkey.

Britain's world champion Bradly Sinden and Turkish European champion Nafia Kuş will also compete. 

PalaFlorio, with a total capacity of 6,000 people, is set to host both events.