The three-day competition will see 284 judoka from 27 countries competing at the Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex in the Mongolian capital as they vie for world ranking points ahead of the World Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in August.

"Hello everyone, it is a great pleasure to be in Mongolia, a country where judo really is the number one sport," Vladimir Barta, the International Judo Federation's (IJF) head sports director, said as he opened the draw for the tournament.

"We've staged new Grand Prix events in different continents recently, as we went to Havana and then Budapest and now we move on to Asia to return to Mongolia for the second edition of the Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix.

"I thank the athletes and countries for supporting this event and I thank our hosts, the Mongolian Judo Association, for all their efforts.

"I wish good luck to everyone and I hope you enjoy the competition."

Vladimir Barta opened the draw for the Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix ©IJF


Among the athletes competing are Russian Olympic champion Tagir Khaybulaev, who will take on London 2012 bronze medallist Dimitri Peters of Germany and Brazil's Rafael Buzacarini, who won bronze at the Dusseldorf Grand Prix, in the under 100 kilogram competition and home hope Khashbaataryn Tsagaanbaatar, who is also an Olympic medallist and 2009 world champion, in the under 73kg tournament.

European champion and world number three Beslan Mudranov of Russia will compete in the under 60kg weight class, while the under 81kg competition will see Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist and two-time world champion Wang Ki-chun of South Korea return to the World Judo Tour alongside German European bronze medallist Sven Maresch and Olympic bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada.

The women's play will see Mongolia's first female judo world champion Munkhbat Urantsetseg going for gold again in the under 48kg class, while compatriot and world bronze medallist Munkhbaatar Bundmaa will take on Germany's Mareen Kräh and Hungary's Barbara Maros in the under 52kg competition.

Four-time world medallist Telma Monteiro of Portugal, who told took bronze at this year's European Championships, is one of the more experienced athletes at the competition.

She will face Rijeka Grand Prix bronze medallist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Canada, Austrian former Samsun Grand Prix bronze medallist Tina Zeltner and Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Hedvig Karakas of Hungary in the under 57kg category.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

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