Kumite competitors Xioyan Yin of China and Sajad Ganjzadeh of Iran will be looking to repeat their success from the tournament in the French capital last month, where they came out on top in the women's under-61 kilogram and men's over-84kg events respectively.

Ukraine's Stanislav Horuna will also be one to watch this weekend after his excellent performance in the Karate 1-Series A event in Guadalajara last week, which saw him take gold in the men's kumite under-75kg event.

Rafael Aghayev, Azerbaijan's five-time world champion at under-75kg, is another name to look out for as he looks to defend the title he won in Dubai last year.

Brazil's Pan American champion Douglas Brose will also be full of confidence going into his under-60kg competition in the United Arab Emirates city having taken the gold medal in Guadalajara last week.

At the other end of the scale, world champion Ayumi Uekusa of Japan will be looking to recover from her surprise defeat in Paris in January.

Uekusa had been in great form heading into the competition in the French capital, having won seven consecutive gold medals.

She was, however, eliminated surprisingly early from the tournament.

This weekend's competition in Dubai will welcome more than 600 competitors from 74 countries.