A record 142 of the 149 members of International Fencing Federation (FIE) are due to attend the event which will also decide the hosts of the 2015 World Championships and the 2014 Veteran World Championships.

The 2014 Senior Championships were initially due to be held in the Bulgarian capital Sofia but,  due to financial issues, they were forced to withdraw as hosts earlier this year.

The FIE has now approached the United States Fencing Association (USFA) asking whether they would consider hosting the event in 2014 with a $500,000 (£310,000/€370,000) promise from the world governing body's President Alisher Usmanov - Russia's richest man - and $1 million (£620,000/€740,000) assistance getting sponsorship money, according to USFA Board member David Blake.

The FIE then opened the bidding up to other national federations due to a slow response from the USFA, leading to another bid from Kazan, host of the 2013 Summer Universiade.

The FIE refused to reveal which cities would be bidding for the Championships, but San Francisco and Kazan were confirmed to insidethegames by Blake.

Kazan proved their hosting potential with a successful Summer Universiade earlier this year ©Getty Images



Port Louis, Mauritius, which was due to host the 2014 Veteran World Championships, will also no longer do so leaving the Congress having to vote on a new host city when they meet on Friday.

As with the Senior Championships, the FIE refused to disclose the candidate cities for this event.

The Congress will also see the host of the 2015 World Championships revealed with the United States and Russia looking like potential candidates after putting their names forward at the FIE's 91st Congress last December.

At the Congress, America mentioned cities including Washington DC, Philadelphia, New Orleans, or Louisiana being put forward to host the event, whilst Russia proposed Moscow as a potential host.

These bids are also unconfirmed and may have changed due to both countries now bidding for the 2014 World Championships.

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