By Paul Osborne at Manchester Central Convention Complex

The draw for the inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Prix has been made ©Sport Taekwondo UKDecember 12 - The draw for the inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Prix has been made here today, as more than 230 athletes from 59 countries discovered who they will face in their quest to take gold and earn vital ranking points on the road to Rio 2016.
Eight athletes in each of the weight categories were seeded based on their World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Olympic Ranking and these athletes were given a fixed slot in the draw.

The remaining competitors were then drawn randomly by a computer system with a maximum of 32 athletes drawn per category.

The field for this event is one of the strongest seen this year with six Olympic medallists on the roster.

Some of the biggest cheers of the competition are expected on the final day when Great Britain's Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones takes to the mat for her first international event on home soil since her win at London 2012 last year.

She will be hoping to get off to a good start when she faces Mexico's Jessica Renee Chavez Rivera in the under 57kg category on Sunday (December 15).

Action is set to get underway tomorrow at Manchester Central ©WTFAction is set to get underway tomorrow at Manchester Central ©WTF


Before then, fans can expect some mouth watering contests here, including Argentina's London 2012 gold medallist Sebastián Crismanich's day one match against Russia's Anton Kotkov in the under 80kg category.

Crismanich secured his nation's first taekwondo medal at a Games - as well as its first individual Olympic gold since Delfo Cabrera won the marathon at London 1948 - when he beat Spaniard Nicolás García in the London 2012 final.

Another match to watch will be the under 58kg contest between Colombian Óscar Muñoz and South Korea's Tae-Moon Cha.

Muñoz took bronze in the discipline in London last year and will be hoping to build on this performance to mount a serious challenge for the all important gold medal.

It will be be a battle of the bronze medals in the under 68kg division between Germany's Daniel Manz and Russia's Aleksey Denisenko on day three of the competition.

Manz took bronze in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, while Denisenko finished with the same result in London last year.

The biggest cheers of the weekend will likely be reserved for Britain's London 2012 gold medallist Jade Jones ©Getty ImagesThe biggest cheers of the weekend will likely be reserved for Britain's London 2012 gold medallist Jade Jones ©Getty Images

Action is set to get underway tomorrow with the women's under 49kg event, where Briton Georgia Barnes will be hoping to get the home crowd on their feet when she takes on Norway's Janike Lai.

The women's over 67kg and men's over 80kg event will also take place tomorrow putting three gold medals up for grabs on the opening day of action.

Speaking following the draw, WTF President Chungwon Choue said: "I feel privileged to be leading the WTF during such an exciting moment in the evolution of taekwondo.

"This is a historic time for the sport and the competition draw in Manchester marks the beginning of a special journey that we are about to embark on with the World Taekwondo GP.

"London 2012 really opened our eyes to taekwondo's potential.

"We saw some of the best and most exciting taekwondo action that the sport has ever seen, and we saw huge enthusiasm from spectators and television audiences.

"We want to make sure we continue to build on this.

"The World Taekwondo GP slogan is 'Here Come the Champions' and that is exactly what it will deliver: regular Olympic-standard competition between the world's best athletes."