MUMBAI: In a major landmark for squash in India, for the first time ever, the world’s best players will descend into Mumbai to battle for the newly incepted PSA Platinum Event, The Punj Lloyd PSA Masters 2009 to be held from 5-10 December at Bombay Gymkhana.

The $ 152,000 tournament with a 32-man field has Punj Lloyd as title sponsor and Mid-Day as the associate sponsor. The event is also supported by Professional Squash Association, Squash Racquets Federation of India (SRFI) and Squash Racquets Association of Maharashtra (SRAM), while Ivy Sports will organise this event.

Punj Lloyd Group, which has been supporting sports such as car racing for the last two years, has committed to promote this Platinum event, which qualifies the highest graded tournaments on the PSA Calendar.

“We are delighted to bring PSA’s largest tournament to India. Watching the top 32 international players in action at the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters will be a first for all the squash fans of India. With the Commonwealth Games in the offing, this exciting event will act as a buildup and put India on the world map for Squash. Many of India ‘s squash players enjoy world ranking and Punj Lloyd PSA Masters provides them an opportunity to play on home-ground and the audience a world-class event,” Punj Lloyd Group chairman Atul Punj said.

The PSA's original vision was to hold the event at the Gateway of India, which would have added another iconic location to the world tour after the Grand Central Terminus in New York and Hong Kong Harbour. However, logistical issues prevented organisers from staging such an event at the popular tourist destination.

The tournament will now be played at the All Glass Court also referred to as ‘The Thunderdome’ on the lawns of the Bombay Gymkhanain South Mumbai.

The organisers say that school and college children are going to be allowed easy access in an effort to take the sport to a large portion of the younger population.

Players in action include Karim Darwish the current World No.1 from Egypt, Gregory Gaultier from France, the 3 time world champion who ruled the game for 33 months, Amr Shabana, nicknamed The Prince of Egypt, David Palmer the Australian who now lives in the US, James Willstrop and Nick Matthew, two of England’s finest, the wonder kid Ramy Ashour from Egypt, Ritwik Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal of India are the marquee names that form the impressive line up. This will further enhance the experience of Squash lovers in the country.

Ritwik Bhattacharya, a five times national champion, spokesperson of Ivy Sports and PSA representative in India said, “This is a tremendous moment for Indian Squash. To have the World’s best in our backyard is a huge opportunity for the ever increasing number of juniors in this country. Indian Squash is growing all the time and I am convinced that an event of this profile and magnitude could radically change the momentum of this growth.”