Competition at the Uzbekistan Sport Complex is due to begin tomorrow and conclude the following Saturday (July 14).

A selection of top emerging talents in weightlifting will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the sport’s greats who have risen to greatness through past events.

The men’s categories are 56 kilograms, 62kg, 69kg, 77kg, 85kg, 94kg, 105kg and over-105kg.

Women, meanwhile, will compete at 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 75kg, 90kg and over-90kg.

USA Weightlifting claims its analysis shows it could be on course for a "great outcome" in Tashkent, especially for its women’s team.

The United States have two female athletes in the 48kg A category, Hayley Reichardt and Megan Seegert, and over 90kg A category, Ashamarie Benitez and Kuinini Manumua.

Their women’s team is completed by Jourdan Delacruz at 53kg A, Meredtih Alwine at 75kg A, Kate Vibert at 69kg A and Juliana Riotto at 90kg A.

"These athletes are our future and in some cases, are already competing at the senior level internationally," USA Weightlifting chief executive Phil Andrews said.

"We have several athletes in contention for medals in Tashkent.

"It's going to be an exciting week for Team USA."

Also looking to make their mark on the competition will be New Zealand’s Uaealesi Funaki and Joachim Setefano.

Funaki is the nation’s junior 85kg weightlifting champion, while fellow 19-year-old Setefano is the reigning over-105kg champion at national and Oceania level.  

Simon Kent, the founder of Papatoetoe Olympic Weightlifting Club, where Funaki and Setefano first took up the sport, has praised how hard they have worked to reach this level.

"Both are the number one ranked junior lifters in New Zealand," he was reported as saying by New Zealand website Stuff.

"They have both been training for four-years and have a real appreciation of what it takes both mentally and physically to be at their current level.

"More importantly however, is their passion and desire for the sport of weightlifting and their commitment to putting in the work, sometimes up to eight training sessions a week.

"Both have aspirations of a top-15 finish at the Junior World Championships where they will be competing against professional athletes from other nations."

Among the most notable winners at previous editions of the IWF Junior World Championships were Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze and Iran’s Behdad Salimi.

Talakhadze got a first taste for a gold medal on the global stage at the 2013 IWF Junior World Championships in Lima in Peru.

A sensational display in the over-105kg category five years ago was a sign of things to come for the Georgian, who has gone on to claim one Olympic title, two gold medals at the World Championships, three golds at the European Championships and the 2017 IWF Lifter of the Year award.

Salimi’s first major triumph came at the 2009 IWF Junior World Championships in Romania’s capital Bucharest, where he took top spot at over-105kg a year after finishing third at the previous edition of the event in Cali in Colombia.

Still only 28 years of age, he has since claimed victory in the Olympics at London 2012, two World Championships, two Asian Games and three Asian Championships during a glittering career.