World No. 1 Gaultier leads star cast for Qatar Classic

World number one Gregory Gaultier of France will lead a star cast at this year’s Qatar Classic.Gaultier, a former champion in Doha, will head the men’s competition at the October 29-November 3 event to be held at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex, Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation (QTSBF), the event organiser, said yesterday.With the event offering a whopping $165,000 in prize money, players like Egyptian duo Karim Abdel Gawad, Mohamed El Shorbagy, Britain’s Nick Mathew and Ali Farag of Egypt complete the world’s top five set to appear in Doha.Gawad is the defending champion after he beat compatriot El Shorbagy in the 2016 final. Marwan El Shorbagy (world number 6), James Willstrop (7), Tarek Momen (8), Fares Dessouky (9) and New Zealand’s Paul Coll (10) are also certain to  take part in the championship.Qatar’s Abdulla Mohamed al-Tamimi, ranked 42 in the world, is also part of the main draw. “This will be a great event as the top players are headed to Doha. We have a long history of hosting this top tier squash event,” tournament director Tareq Zainal said.“This is the first event since the merger of three sports bodies – tennis, squash and badminton. We are looking forward to the event and I can assure you this event will be one to remember,” Zainal said.The winner in Doha will take home $24, 225 while the runners-up get richer by $14,820.ENTRY LIST1 Gregory Gaultier2 Karim Abdel Gawad3 Mohamed ElShorbagy4 Nick Matthew5 Ali Farag6 Marwan ElShorbagy7 James Willstrop8 Tarek Momen9 Fares Dessouky10 Paul Coll11 Simon Rösner12 Daryl Selby13 Mohamed Abouelghar14 Ramy Ashour15 Ryan Cuskelly16 Borja Golan17 Diego Elias18 Cameron Pilley19 Zahed Mohamed20 Cesar Salazar21 Gregoire Marche22 Miguel Angel Rodriguez23 Omar Mosaad24 Abdulla al-Tamimi (WC)