The three-day event is the second IJF competition following the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where Uzbekistan’s two medals came courtesy of bronzes for Diyorbek Urozboev and Rishod Sobirov in the respective men’s under 60 kilograms and under 66kg categories.

Both will sit out their home Grand Prix as the hosts, like other countries, look to use the event to blood their youth with a new generation of judoka set to come through in this new Olympic cycle.

Some of the IJF World Judo Tour debutants will be aiming to earn selection for the final events of 2016, which include the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, Qingdao Grand Prix and Tokyo Grand Slam.

The draw took place today at the Wyndham Tashkent Hotel, where IJF competition manager Lisa Allan revealed that 81 men and 58 women will compete in Uzbekistan’s capital.

"I would like to welcome you all to Uzbekistan for the Tashkent Grand Prix 2016," she said in her opening address.

"I would like to congratulate the Uzbekistan Federation for their results at Rio 2016 and thank them for the excellent organisation of this Grand Prix.

"I wish good luck to all the competitors and nations in Tashkent."

Uzbekistan Judo Federation President Armen Bagdasarov thanked participants for their support for the event, which is being held for the fourth year in a row.

"I would like to thank the Uzbekistan Government for their support and the IJF President Mr Marius Vizer for again trusting us to hold this competition," he added.

"I wish you all success on the tatami in Uzbekistan."

Among those competing in Tashkent is former world silver medallist Amartuvshin Dashdavaa of Mongolia, who arrives as the top seed in the men’s under 60kg category having made the most of his sporadic starts this year.

The world number five won the Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix in July, before taking bronze at the World Judo Masters, silver at the Tbilisi Grand Prix and bronze at the Paris Grand Slam.

The 28-year-old will aim to start the Tokyo 2020 cycle with a gold medal-winning performance, but will have to fend off the likes of home favourite Sharafuddin Lutfillaev, a Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist, and Kyrgyzstan’s Otar Bestaev, who helped round out the podium in Tashkent last year.

On the women’s side, two-time Olympian Abigél Joó of Hungary will look to build on her under 78kg triumph at last month’s Zagreb Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old has mostly Asian opposition in the category such as Almaty Grand Prix silver medallist Albina Amangeldiyeva of Kazakhstan.

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