Doha: The qualifying rounds of the Qatar PSA World Squash Championship will begin from tomorrow at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
The Qatar Squash Federation (QSF) informed yesterday that 32 players from 11 countries will be vying for a place in the main draw of the $325,000 event, the second richest in squash’s history.
The 16 qualifiers will join players from 21 countries who will contest the 64-man main draw, matches which will take place from December 7 to 14.
QSF officials informed that some of the top-ranked players are already in Doha while some of them will be arriving today.
“Most of the players have arrived in Doha two or three days back to get use to the weather, some of them came directly from Hong Kong, after the Hong Kong Open, a PSA event.
The world No.1 and No.2 James Willstrop and Nick Matthew, both of England are already here,” said Gamal Rasmi, Technical Secretary of QSF.
Qatar is hosting the event formerly known as the World Open for the third time, having previously staged the premier championship on the PSA World Tour in 1998 and 2004.
Jonathan Power of Canada won in 1988 and Thierry Lincou of France topped in 2004.
England’s Matthew is the reigning PSA World Champion after becoming the first player for 15 years to successfully defend the title last November in Rotterdam. Fellow countrymen and world no.1 Willstrop is the top seed of the tournament.
But, the two Englishmen will face a fierce challenge, to the predicted all-English final, from the Egyptians seven of them who feature in the top-16 rankings of Professional Squash Association (PSA).
Karim Darwish, RamyAshour, Amr Shabana, Mohamed El Shorbagy, Omar Mosaad, Tarek Momen and Hisham Ashour are the top-ranked Egyptians who will vie for the top prize of $45,600.
The Egyptians players have a huge following in Qatar and most of them enjoy playing in Qatar which is like a second home for them.
“The Egyptian players will be arriving today,” added Rasmi, about the crowd favourities.
Besides the two top-ranked Englishman and the Egyptians, others in the top-ranked 16 field include Laurens Jan Anjema of Netherlands, Gregory Gaultier of France, Daryl Selby of England, Alister Walker of Botswana, Peter Barker and Tom Richards of England and Borja Golan of Spain.
World No.2 Matthew will be bidding for a rare hat-trick of titles in Qatar.
The reigning PSA World Champion won the last two editions of the tournaments in Rotterdam, Holland and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
Last year the 32-year-old from Sheffield successfully defend his PSA World Championship. In 2010, he won his first title defeating compatriot Willstrop.
Should Matthew prevail, he would become only the fifth player to win the title three times, following in the footsteps of legends Geoff Hunt of Australia and Jahangir and Jansher Khan both of Pakistan.
Hunt, the current Qatar coach, has won the title four times in 1976, 1978, 79 and 1980, while Jahangir Khan clinched the top prize on six occasions, while, Jansher won it eight times.
Among the current crop competing in Qatar, Shabana has won the title on four occasions.
Qatar challenge in the tournament will be lead by Abdulla Al Tamimi.
The world No.136 will be contesting in the world championship for the first time having got a wild card.
Tamimi will take on India’s Saurav Ghoshal in the opening match.
Ghosal is one of the two Indians in the main draw.
Siddharth Suche is the second one and will take on Simon Rosner of France in the first round.
Ali Bin Ali Group is the main sponsor of the championship.
Qatar National Bank, Qtel, UDC, Qatar Airways, Jaidah Automotive, Pepsi, Doha Insurance, Aspetar, Crystal, Casaflora, Ali Bin Ali & Partners, Ali Bin Ali Printing Press, International Agencies, Qatar Quality Products, Prime Consumer Products, Fauchon and Digitek are co-sponsors.
The Peninsula
