Former two-time Olympic champion in 2004 and 2008 Tian Liang will be coming home to participate in the 10 metre dive.

Qin Kai, another Olympic champion in the 3m synchronised at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, will also be competing in her hometown.

World champions Si Yajie and Yang Hao are from Xi'an as well and will be competing in the event.

Si won the world championship in the women's 10m in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

This will be the first leg of the 2023 Diving World Cup, with the next stop being Montreal, which will be between May 5 and 7.

This is the first time since 2002 that Xi'an hosted a international diving event.

A new diving competition system was put in place, with the individual events having a preliminary round and a final round, while the synchronised and team events only having a final.

In the women's 10m platform, Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi of China are expected to battle it out for the gold.

Quan claimed a victory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after scoring 24 perfect marks out of 35 possible.

Chen took home two back-to-back wins at the World Championships in Budapest and Berlin last year.

At the men's 3m springboard, Wang Zongyuan is favoured to win after winning the 1m, 3m and 3m synchronized in Budapest last year.

Jack Laugher of Great Britain will be up against him, as the synchronized champion in Rio 2016 looks to add to his resume.

In the men's 10m platform, Yang will be in the running for the title as he will be facing Japan's Rikuto Tamai, as  reigning world champion Yang Jian and Olympic champion Cao Yuan will be absent from the Diving World Cup. 

The first leg of the 2023 Diving World Cup will last until April 16, with 63 athletes from 13 different nations.