The Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour returns to the Black Ball Sporting Club in Egyptian capital Cairo for the third time in five months.

It staged the women’s event in March 2020 before hosting the most recent tournament on the World Tour last December.

King came within a whisker of making the final when she let slip a match ball to lose 13-11 in the final game tie-break against eventual champion Sarah-Jane Perry of England.

World champion El Sherbini will be aiming for her first Black Ball title along with Egypt’s Nouran Gohar and France’s Camille Serme, ranked second and third in the world respectively.

Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy will hope to reclaim the title she won last October, while American Amanda Sobhy, King and Wales’ Tesni Evans make up the rest of the top eight seeds.

"Nour has done it all hasn’t she?," said world number eight King.

"She has won four World Championships and two British Opens so she will always be someone who you have to beat to win the big titles.

"That said, right now I would say that the women’s game is so open that anyone in the top eight can win these tournaments on their day and that is what is making the women’s game so exciting.

"If you look at the last Black Ball, then the semi-finals had four players who were all outside the top four and from different countries which was great to see and good for the game.

"So I think that at the moment it is whoever can put these big performances out on the day, but you have to come back to Nour, she is just always someone you have to beat."

The women’s competition is scheduled to run from tomorrow until March 18, followed by the men’s event from March 19 to 25.

Egypt’s Fares Dessouky is the defending men’s champion after winning the biggest crown of his career three months ago.

The man he beat in the final was fellow countryman Ali Farag, who will be the top seed for the tournament and will be aiming to go one step further than he managed last December.

World number two Mohamed ElShorbagy and reigning world champion Tarek Momen, both of Egypt, and New Zealand’s Paul Coll will be among the main contenders for the title.