The 18-year-old will be vying for glory in the women’s under-52 kilograms category at Inner Mongolia Stadium.

The two other world champions that have made the trip to Hohhot are Iran’s Saeid Mollaei and South Korea’s Cho Gu-ham, in the men’s under-81kg and under-100kg categories, respectively.

Mollaei will have to hold off the man he beat in the 2018 World Championships finals in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, Japan’s Sotaro Fujiwara, who is considered the favourite for the men’s under-81kg title.

Germany’s Dominic Ressel, the 2017 European silver medallist, is also likely to be in contention.

Cho, meanwhile, is expected to face a strong challenge from Canada’s Shady El Nahas, Germany’s Karl-Richard Frey and Russia’s Arman Adamian.

Abe and Cho, 2018 Hohhot Grand Prix winners, will compete on days one and three, respectively, while reigning Olympic champion Lukáš Krpálek and former Olympic gold medallists Idalys Ortiz of Cuba and Naidan Tüvshinbayar of Mongolia will also fight on day three.

It was in Hohhot where the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification period opened one year ago.

Points from competitions now count 100 per cent towards qualification.

Hohhot is hosting its third IJF Grand Prix and this leg of the World Tour is considered the most pivotal event on the calendar so far this year.

The official draw took place at Juva Grand Hotel this afternoon and was opened by IJF competition manager Lisa Allan.