The delegates will join judoka from 17 other countries who will compete at RDS Stadium in a competition that offers qualification  points for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Headlining the hosts’ squad is Carolina Costa in the women’s over-70kg.

Costa won bronze at the 2018 IBSA Judo World Championships in Odivelas, Portugal, in November.

She continued her medal-winning ways at the Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, in May with gold and at the International Qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in Fort Wayne, United States, earlier this month with another bronze.

Genoese fans will follow closely the journey of local athlete Asia Giordano in the women’s under-48kg.

Dong Dong Camanni will be the youngest on the team, making his international debut in the men’s up to 66kg at the age of 16.

Romania's Alex Bologa will be among returning and defending champions.

The Teatro Modena, a theatre in Genoa Sampierdarena, will host tomorrow’s Opening Ceremony, which is directed by Giorgio Gallione.

The Italian Sports Federation for the Blind and Visually Impaired, led by President Sandro Di Girolamo, has also enlisted local schools to provide volunteers for the event and a number of local and national partners are involved.

After three sessions of sight classification, competition will begin in 13 weight categories.

Tomorrow will see six classes contested – the women’s under-48kg, under-52kg and under-57kg, and the men’s under-60kg, under-66kg and under-73kg.

On Saturday, action will take place in the women’s under-63kg, under-70kg and over-70kg classes, and the men’s under-81kg, under-90kg, under-100kg and over-100kg categories.

Day three, on Sunday, will see the mixed team event take place.

There will be three levels of classification – B1 for athletes who are legally blind, B2 for athletes who are visually impaired and B3 for athletes who have partial vision.