The 2024 China Open Squash tournament will kick off at the SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center Crescent Lagoon in Shanghai from Oct 30 to Nov 11, event organizers announced.

This marks the return of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Silver-level tournament to Shanghai since 2019. Ticket sales began at 12 pm on Oct 15 on the "Juss Sports" app.

Co-organized by the Multi-ball Games Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport and Shanghai Juss Sports Development (Group) Co Ltd, the event is expected to draw 48 professional athletes from different countries and regions worldwide.

The five-day event will feature 46 competitions and employ a single elimination system, with a total prize money of $142,500. Three Chinese players will compete at this year's China Open Squash, including the sixth-seeded player Tomato Ho from Hong Kong and two wild-card players from the Chinese mainland, Zhou Penglin and Liu Ziyi.

The venue is built next to the Crescent Lagoon outdoor swimming pool at the Oriental Sports Center.

As part of the PSA World Tour, the China Open Squash is currently the highest-level professional squash event to be hosted on the Chinese mainland. Historically held annually in Shanghai from 2006 to 2019, the tournament was suspended in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The aim of bringing the event back to Shanghai is to enrich our squash activities and make China thrive on squash," said Wang Yun, deputy director of the Multi-ball Games Administrative Center. "Chinese players can benefit from this opportunity to learn from top-level players in the world and compete for points to secure a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics."

"It will also boost public awareness of and participation in squash while nurturing the integrated growth of sports with business and other related industries," Wang added.