The season-ending event is highly prestigious as only the top-16 ranked judoka in each weight category are invited.

Two days of competition are scheduled at the Guangzhou Arena in the Chinese city, beginning tomorrow and ending on Sunday (December 16).

With 1,800 ranking points awarded to gold medallists, 1,260 for silver and 900 for bronze, a shake-up in the overall standings is likely come the end of the competition.

This could be key with the Masters a part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification process, while a prize purse of $300,000 (£239,000/€265,000) is up for grabs.

Rio 2016 Olympic champions in action include Argentina's Paula Pareto in the women's under-48 kilograms division and Brazil's Rafaela Silva in the women's under-57kg.

Slovenia's Tina Trstenjak, the Rio winner in the women's under-63kg division, and men's under-81kg champion Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia are the other Olympic gold medallists among the field.

The eight world champions in action all struck gold in Azerbaijan's capital Baku in September.

They include Japan's Tsukasa Yoshida in the women's under-57kg and France's Clarisse Agbegnenou at under-63kg.

Another Japanese world champion in Shori Hamada will compete in the women's under-78kg division with South Korea's An Changrim a threat in the men's under-73kg.

Iran's Saeid Mollaei will be a contender in the men's under-81kg with Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain competing as world champion at under-90kg.

Guham Cho of South Korea will compete at under-100kg with over-100kg world gold medallist Guram Tushishvili of Georgia also set to appear.

The IJF announced in June that they had awarded the next four editions of the World Judo Masters to Guangzhou.

It was held in Russian city Saint Petersburg last year.

"The 2018 World Judo Masters will be officially opened on Saturday and the top 16-ranked judoka will show the audience the highest level of judo," said Chinese Judo Association President Xian Dongmei.

"I wish all the athletes great results and this is the first time for this beautiful city of Guangzhou to host an IJF event and this shows the integration of sports culture here and especially for judo. 

"The CJA hopes to take this opportunity to raise the sport to a new level here and finally I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone here, thank you." 

Watch the action on Judo TV.