Olympic champion Ulugbek Rashitov will be joined by three world gold medallists in his weight division ©Getty Images

China will host a World Taekwondo Grand Prix event for the first time since 2014 tomorrow with a star-studded line-up of athletes descending on Taiyuan.

Crucial ranking points in the Paris 2024 qualification process will be on offer across three days at the Shanxi Sports Center.

Athletes due to see action at the elite invitation-only event include all four men's Olympic champions from Tokyo 2020, including Italy's Vito Dell'Aquila in the men's under-58 kilograms and Uzbekistan's Ulugbek Rashitov in the men's under-68kg.

Russian Olympic champions Maksim Khramtsov and Vladislav Larin, both permitted to compete by World Taekwondo as neutrals amid the war in Ukraine, will pad up at under-80kg and over-80kg respectively.

Rivaling Dell'Aquila in the lightest class will be South Korea's Park Tae-joon, the world champion at under-53kg in Baku this year.

Three reigning world champions will pad out the field at under-68kg, including Britain's Bradly Sinden who triumphed in Baku at that weight after losing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic final to Rashitov.

Turkey's Hakan Recber and Croatia's Marko Golubić, the world under-63kg and under-74kg champions respectively, will also enter with fewer weight categories available at the Olympics.

Italy's under-80kg world champion Simone Alessio will provide a challenge in Khramtsov's division, while under-87kg Baku gold medallist Kang Sang-hyun of South Korea will see action with Larin at over-80kg.

Panipak Wongpattanakit is one of two women's Olympic champions in the field ©Getty Images
Panipak Wongpattanakit is one of two women's Olympic champions in the field ©Getty Images

In women's action, Thailand's Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Panipak Wongpattanakit is in the draw in the under-49kg division.

Croatia's Matea Jelic, the Olympic gold medallist at under-67kg, will compete at over-67kg.

Two world champions will battle with Wongpattanakit at under-49kg - including Turkey's Merve Dinçel, who beat the Thai fighter at this weight in the Baku final.

Under-46kg world champion Lena Stojković of Croatia will move up in weight to also compete. 

France's Magda Wiet Henin, the under-67kg world champion, will enter at this weight alongside Russian neutral Liliia Khuzina, the under-62kg world champion.

In the women's under-57kg, Hungary's world champion Luana Marton could be on a collision course with under-53kg world champion Nahid Kiani of Iran.

China will have home interest in this division as Zhongshi Luo is a five-time winner on the Grand Prix circuit.

The women's over-67kg will feature under-73kg world champion Althéa Laurin of France alongside Jelic, and over-73kg world champion Nafia Kus of Turkey. 

Rashitov, Wongpattanakit and Luo all won gold at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the end of last month.