With squash just announced an Olympic sport for the games in Los Angeles in 2028, Tauranga will see some the world's best players on-court here in our city this December.

The New Zealand Squash Open will be played December 5-10 at Mercury Baypark Arena – with Aotearoa's top male and female athletes joined by some of the world's best players from 17 nations.

Women's world number four, Kiwi Joelle King, and men's number five, Kiwi Paul Coll, will head home for the NZ Open, to be played as part of the NZ Festival of Squash in Tauranga.

Joining Joelle in the Barfoot & Thompson NZ Women's Open is five-time US Champion Amanda Sobhy who boasts a career-high world number three ranking. World number seven and 10 Nele Gillis and Tinnie Gillis from Belgium will also look to give Joelle a run for her money as she defends her 2022 title.

Another woman to watch is Egyptian up-and-comer Fayrouz Aboelkheir who will be seeded ninth in the women's draw despite being aged 17. NZ Commonwealth Games athlete Kaitlyn Watts joins the entry list as the Kiwi wildcard.

In the Robertson Lodges NZ Men's Open are the top 10 world ranked Marwan ElShorbagy from England, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Joel Makin from Wales, and Egypt's Tarek Momen who has a career-high world number three ranking.

Photo. Men's number five Paul Coll. Supplied.

France's Victor Crouin, Baptise Masotti, Auguste Dussourd and Gregorie Marche are on the bill. And up-and-coming Aucklander Elijah Thomas takes the men's wildcard. 'It's a pretty stacked field,” says Paul Coll.

'It's awesome to get to face that competition at home and there's going to be some great matches and some really aggressive squash on display.”

The draw consists of 24 men and 24 women, with Joelle saying: 'It's great to have such a quality field for an event in our backyard”.

'With squash just announced for the 2028 Olympics everyone's really excited and I have no doubt that some of these athletes will be Olympians, so I'd really encourage the community to come and enjoy the action, it's going to be world class.”

The NZ Squash Open is December 5-10 at Mercury Baypark Arena, followed by the Men's World Team Championship from December 11-17.

'This is an opportunity to see the best squash players in the world, right here in NZ,” says tournament director Wayne Werder. 'So make sure you snap up your tickets to avoid missing out.” Tickets are on sale at: www.festivalofsquash.co.nz