Van Niekerk clocked 44.11sec at the ASA Open Championships in Bloemfontein last month and is the fastest man in the field this season for the 400m race.
He faces a lineup including inform Bralon Taplin, of Grenada, who set a personal best of 44.41 in Tempe last month, former World Championships relay silver medallist Rusheen McDonald, of Jamaica, and African champion Isaac Makwala, of Botswana.
Van Niekerk will be joined by seven other South African athletes at the fifth leg of the topflight international track and field campaign.
Caster Semenya, the fastest woman in the world this year with a 1:56.64 season’s best, is the firm favourite for the women’s 800m race after winning the IAAF Diamond League contests in Doha and Rabat last month.
Her strongest opposition could come from IAAF world indoor champion Francine Niyonsaba, of Burundi, and Kenya’s Eunice Sum, the former IAAF world outdoor champion.
Sunette Viljoen, the world’s top-ranked woman javelin thrower this year, spearheads the entry list after launching a 65.14m season’s best to secure victory in Doha, though she must contend with expected challenges from former World Championships gold medallist Christina Obergfoll and reigning world champion Katharina Molitor, both representing Germany, and Czech world record-holder Barbora Spotakova.
