The second edition of the Women's Black Ball Squash Open starts Sunday in Cairo. The event, from 8 to 14 March, will be held at the squash courts of the Black Ball Club in the Fifth Settlement of New Cairo. The one-week tournament will host the top 68 female squash players in the world from 14 countries, including the US, France, Wales, Hong Kong, India, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Scotland and South Africa. The organisers have upgraded the tournament from the gold category to platinum, the highest in terms of prize money. The event offers total prize money worth $180,000. This year, world No 1 and former world champion Raneem Al-Welili of Egypt will defend her title to sustain her current world ranking against her Egyptian rival and second seed Nouran Gohar who is aiming to become the world No 1 by the end of next month. The event also features several squash stars who are capable of huge upsets including Nour Al-Sherbini, Camille Serem, Nour Al-Tayeb and Sarah Jan Perry. According to Mohamed Raef, Black Ball Club CEO and tournament director, the club has provided all the necessary facilities to make the event “successful and unique”. A week before the tournament, the club's board of directors held a press conference where they announced details of the event. The board, headed by Ahmed Al-Abd, chairman of Black Ball for Investment and Sports Development, welcomed Egyptian Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi to the conference. All matches in the tournament will be aired live on the Egyptian channel ON Sport. Worldwide viewers can watch it on Squash TV in 55 countries. *A version of this article appears in print in the 5 March, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly