After spending monumental sums of money to completely upgrade the famous Khalifa Squash Complex, Doha is now ready to welcome the world's best players to this Gulf state capital for the Qatar Classic 2007, which will be held from April 13 to 17.

Last year, the Qatari government spent huge sums to renovate the Khalifa Squash Complex for the Asian Games that were held in Doha in December 2006. The entire exercise was taken to stage the squash events at the two-week Asian Games held in the Qatari capital.

The 2006 Asian Games came and went and now the time is for real squash action to commence at the Khalifa Squash Complex, which now boasts of eight side courts and one state-of-the-art all-glass court. The seating capacity of the all-glass centre court is 1,200 fans whereas 200 people can catch the action at each of the side courts of the Khalifa Squash Complex.

Names like world number one Amr Shabana of Egypt, world number two Gregory Gaultier of France and world number three David Palmer of Australia will lead the star cast at next week's Qatar Classic 2007, which was postponed from last year because of the 2006 Asian Games, which Doha hosted four months ago.

The top players on WISPA computer will also be seen in action in Doha next week. Names like world number one Nicol David of Malaysia and Grinham sisters from Australia, Nathalie and Rachael, who are ranked number two and three respectively, will do battle for the top prize.

The total prize money for the prestigious squash event is US$185,000. The winner of the men's event will pocket nearly US$17,000 while the top player in the women's category will walk away with a cash boost of US$12,000