A group of seven international teams of sport sambo fighters are set to take part in the event at the Seven Towers Leisure Centre in Ballymena, 25 miles north of the Northern Irish capital Belfast.

The organiser is the Commonwealth Sambo Association, in partnership with the International Sambo Federation (FIAS), as part of a drive to increase the reputation and popularity of the Russian martial art in Britain and around the world.

The favourites remain Russia, winners of all five previous editions of the team competition, last year comfortably beating a combined United States and Canada team 6-1 in the final.

Each team consists of seven athletes - five men and two women - who will fight it out in knockout best-of-seven bouts, with the draw scheduled to be made on tomorrow morning.

This year, teams from Russia, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, a combined rest of Britain team, Spain, The Netherlands, and a team of worldwide athletes from the rest of the world competing under the British Sambo Federation flag will take part.

The five male fighters compete at under-74 kilogram, under-82kg, under-90kg, under-100kg and over-100kg levels, while the female practitioners enter at under-64kg and over-64kg.

Along with the sport sambo competitions, there will also be four individual competitions in combat sambo, with each weight category consisting of four fighters.

These are in the under-62kg, under-74kg, under-82kg and under-100kg divisions.