Top guns for Indian squash circuit

IVY Sports in association with JSW Steel announced here on Tuesday the second season of the JSW India Squash circuit to be held between September 3 and October 22 across Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, offering prize money of $120,000, a 100 percent increase from last year.

The circuit will begin in Mumbai on Thursday with the NSCI Open, followed by two PSA Men's International $35,000 events -- the CCI International in Mumbai and Kolkata International on September 10-13 and September 24-27. The circuit ends at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai (October 19-22).

Among the big names taking part are Spanish No.1 Borja Golan scheduled to play in the second tournament and will be joined by eight times Indian National champion Saurav Ghosal.

Also in the fray is Briton Adrian Waller, seeded on top of the male draw, followed by German Raphael Kandra and India's Mahesh Mangaonkar, seeded third.

In the women's main draw, Indian favourite and fourth seed Joshna Chinappa will be facing a strong field that includes World Junior champion Habiba Mohamed of Egypt, currently No.18 in the world, and Joey Chan of Hong Kong, who is also in the top-25 bracket.

The tournament is supported by the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and the World Squash Federation (WSF) for the second year.

"With the addition of two $35,000 tournaments (CCI and Kolkata), we welcome Saurav and Joshna to the JSW Indian Squash Circuit 2015," said Ritwik Bhattacharya, PSA representative in India.

"With over $120,000 to be won across the circuit this year, it will raise the stakes considerably. A top Indian pro squash player could potentially maximise on World Ranking Points as well as earn better prize money than ever before playing right here in India on their home courts."