In January 2018 the Saudi PSA Women’s Squash Masters was held in Riyadh. The historic $165,000 tournament was the first-ever professional sporting event for women in Saudi Arabia. Nour El Sherbini captured the inaugural event, beating Raneem El Welily a month after losing to her in the finals of the 2017 World Championship. The event was held on the Z Court, the pink ASB
portable glass court that Ziad Al-Turki, the chair of the board of the PSA and director of the Saudi Women’s Masters, has used for the World Series Finals in Dubai. The court was placed on a basketball court in Green Halls arena in Riyadh. The audience, entirely women, included Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud. Princess Reema, who graduated from George Washington University, is a member of the Saudi royal family and recently became the first woman to be appointed a sports minister in the country. She also hosted a tournament dinner at her family’s palace where she gave every player an abaya, which they donned during a tour of old Riyadh town.
