Ito, beaten in the first round of the event in Bulgaria by China's Wang Yidi, who eventually went on to finish as runner-up, is seeded second for the tournament in the Czech city.

Six of the top eight seeds at the competition, which begins tomorrow at the OMEGA Sports and Health Center, are from Japan.

Kasumi Ishikawa, who beat Ito in the final of last year's Bulgaria Open, is the top seed in the women's singles draw.

China have also sent a strong team to Olomouc, including Wang and Liu Gaoyang, who reached the semi-finals in Panagyurishte.

They are joined on the Chinese squad by Chen Ke and Zhang Rui.

Ito's compatriot Tomokazu Harimoto will also be hoping to retain the Czech Open title as he is among the entrants in the men's singles event.

Harimoto is seeded second behind Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who will bid to end his torrid run on the World Tour circuit having failed to progress beyond the second round in his last four tournaments.

Olympic champion Ma Long has withdrawn from the event, along with team-mate Xu Xin and last year's runner-up Timo Boll of Germany.

Main draw action begins tomorrow following the conclusion of the two-day qualification round.

The Czech Open is scheduled to conclude on Sunday (August 26).