Players from 21 nations – representing all five continents – will line up for the qualifying competition for the Kuwait Men’s World Open Squash Championships 2009, the world's richest squash tournament ever which will be staged in Kuwait, for the first time, from 1-7 November.
The Professional Squash Association (PSA) championship will boast a prize fund of US$277,500 - the largest ever offered by any World Open or PSA World Tour event - and will be the first official sporting World Open Championship to be hosted in Kuwait.
Qualification for the Kuwait Men’s World Open 2009 will be held in England, at St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis & Squash Club in London, on 24 August. Thirty-two players will compete for the remaining sixteen main draw places. The thirty-two entrants will comprise 27 PSA players and five World Squash Federation (WSF) nominations.
The PSA players who will line up at St George's Hill later this month are: Jan Koukal (Czech Republic); Julien Balbo, Mathieu Castagnet, Yann Perrin (France); Stephen Coppinger, Clinton Leeuw (South Africa); Mohammed Abbas (Egypt); Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (Malaysia); Ritwik Bhattacharya (India); Scott Arnold, Bradley Hindle, Wade Johnstone (Australia); Martin Knight, Campbell Grayson (New Zealand); Yasir Butt, Khawaja Adil Maqbool, Shahid Zaman (Pakistan); Robbie Temple, Ben Ford, Shaun le Roux (England); Nicolas Mueller (Switzerland); Dylan Bennett (Netherlands); Gilly Lane (USA); Arthur Gaskin, John Rooney (Ireland); Alan Clyne (Scotland); and Dick Lau (Hong Kong).
Further places will be taken up by five players nominated by the WSF, via their national federations. These are Jens Schoor (Germany), Aqeel Rehman (Austria), Rasmus Nielsen (Denmark), Henrik Mustonen (Finland) and Abdul Salem Al-Malki (Qatar).
"Competition to achieve a place in the main draw of the Kuwait Men’s World Open will be fiercer than ever - and those who come through at St George's Hill will have the chance to compete in the biggest ever PSA World Tour event," said PSA COO Lee Beachill.
Kuwait Men’s World Open 2009 Event Director Paul Walters added: "We are delighted that twenty-one different countries will be represented at the forthcoming qualification competition - which is a just reward to Sheikha Fadyah Al-Sabah, who has been the event's driving force and inspiration in her role as President of the Higher Management Committee.
"The Kuwait Men’s World Open 2009 promises to be the biggest and best championships in the sport's history and will be a fitting climax to the long-term contribution of Sheikha Fadyah Al-Sabah, whose vision and generosity has provided a massive opportunity to the world of squash."
For further information, visit the Kuwait Men’s World Open 2009 Official Website, www.kuwaitworldopen2009.com