The PSA platinum event will take place at the Black Ball Sporting Club, with the support of Commercial International Bank (CIB).

Competition is scheduled to take place from March 12 to 25.

The Black Ball Squash Open will be the first World Tour event of 2021, having also concluded the 2020 calendar in December when it was a gold-category contest.

The PSA welcomed the opportunity to open the season in Egypt, with the traditional start to the calendar year having been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are delighted to kick off our PSA World Tour calendar for 2021 in Egypt and I look forward to watching all of our athletes during what promises to be two exciting and unpredictable weeks in Cairo," said Alex Gough, PSA chief executive.

"I’d like to thank Mohamed Raef, Ahmed El Abd and their team at the Black Ball Sporting Club for their hard work in making this tournament possible.

"Thanks to CIB’s incredible support of squash - which has been integral to our relaunch of the tour against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic - we are pleased to see that this instalment of the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open will be a Platinum event, which means an increase in prize money, while the increased draw size will result in more playing opportunities for our players.

"Given the inability to stage events in the United States at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions, we are starting 2021 differently than in previous years.

"However, we are glad to report that the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open will be the precursor to a regular schedule of PSA World Tour events and I look forward to sharing our full calendar in the coming weeks."

The women’s tournament will be held from March 12 to 18, followed by the men’s from March 19 to 25.

England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and Egypt’s Fares Dessouky are the defending champions.

Both players came from 2-0 down in December’s finals to earn victories over Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy and Ali Farag, respectively.

A total of 48 players will compete in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, with $350,000 (£254,000/€290,000) in equal prize money split across both divisions.

"It's our pleasure at the Black Ball Sporting Club to continue our success story with our valued partners, CIB and PSA," said Mohamed Raef, Black Ball Sporting Club chief executive and tournament director.

"I'm so happy to bring the tournament up to Platinum level.

"Thank you to CIB for the incredible support as usual, especially within the pandemic situation.

"We are looking forward to have another amazing event."

Action from the Black Ball Squash Open will be shown live on SQUASHTV and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour, excluding Europe and Japan.

The semi-finals and finals will also be shown live on the channels of contracted broadcast partners.

Organisers say the tournaments will be held in accordance with strict COVID-19 protocols.

All players and staff will be tested prior to travelling to the tournaments, before taking a further test upon arrival.

Once a negative result has been received, that person will then be allowed to enter the tournament bubble, with further testing every four days during the event.