Laura Massaro and Nour El Sherbini ready for challenge of Women's World Squash Championship

The Women’s World Championship is the most lucrative tournament on the Women’s Tour, with a record purse of $185,000, and World No.1 Laura Massaro is eyeing up a return to the country where she claimed her maiden World title two years ago.

The whole tournament will be screened live on Eurosport Player.

“I normally do quite well in Malaysia so I’m looking forward to going back there,” said Massaro, who beat Nour El Sherbini to become the 2013 World Champion.

“I had a really good week in Penang when I won the World Championship, but it didn’t all go my way. It’s easy to look back and think that it was all plain sailing and I pulled everything together, but I think I saved three or four match balls in the quarter-finals and managed to come through and win, before winning the semi-final. By the time I got to the final, I was extremely nervous because I didn’t expect to be in the World Championship final with an opportunity to play it without Nicol [David] being there because she had been in the last five.

“There were quite a lot of nerves around it but I had a real determination to take the opportunity with both hands and it was an opportunity that you don’t know how many times you will have with it being the World Championship final, so I was very excited to do my best there and really fight hard all the way through. I don’t think it was probably the best match from either of us, but I think you get that sometimes in major finals where you’re both on there, things are edgy and there’s a lot at stake so I was happy overall with how I handled myself on the day to finally take the title.”

Egypt’s El Sherbini is also one of the frontrunners for the World Championship crown and the World No.2 is arguably the most in-form player on the Women’s Tour at present with her superb recent displays culminating in her becoming the first female Egyptian winner of the iconic Allam British Open last month.

El Sherbini says that she is a different person since her final defeat to Massaro and the 20-year-old is dreaming of becoming the new World Champion.

“I feel a lot of things changed [since the World Championship final defeat],” she said.

“I was always told that I played well but I didn’t manage to close the match and win so I was frustrated. But now I feel that I went through a lot of situations in that glass court that changed me as a person in general and not just as a squash player. Hopefully, I will keep going the same way.L“Becoming the World Champion would mean everything to me, it’s what I dream of all the time. I will give it everything, for myself, my parents, my team, my club and my country, Egypt.”

Meanwhile, American hopes rest on the shoulders of United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy, who has firmly established herself as a top 10 player.

Sobhy became the first ever American-born player to reach the final of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in January, but she insists that the thought of doing the same in Malaysia, and winning the title, hasn’t yielded any increased pressure.

“It would be absolutely amazing to be the first American to win the World Championship, not only for myself, but also for squash in the US,” enthused Sobhy.

“However, I’m not going to put pressure on myself by thinking about that during the event, but I may use it to fuel me to push even harder in my matches.

“It would mean the world to me to become the new World Champion. I am speechless just thinking about it.”

All matches will be played at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil. For more information and details, visit the tournament website