Eight local and international teams, featuring 48 players, will grace the inaugural Mara Squash League at the Braeburn School from April 19-21.
The teams include Lightning Strokes, Royal Nicks, Far Superbicks, Apex Alpha Apes, Braeburn Stars, Kenya Orient Life Mavericks, Tusker on the T and Court Conquerors.
They will fight for a Sh1.6m prize purse. The schedule comprises semifinals and finals.
Mara Squash League founder, Chandresh Sagar, said: “Teams will engage in auctions and bids to assemble a squad of five players and one reserve. Each team is permitted a maximum of two international players, including one female athlete and one reserve player for contingencies.”
Each team will be equipped with Sh100,000 for doing business at the auction.
The highest-priced player will fetch 40,000 seedings at the auction, giving the buyer a three-fold bonus.
The distribution of bonuses follows an ascending order based on player seeding with prizes awarded for match wins.
Around 55 players registered and 48 were set to participate in the auction. The emphasis lies on nurturing local talent with only two international players allowed per team.
“Two international female players from India are expected,” said Sagar.
The long-term goal is to attract top-tier international talent targeting the world’s top 20 players in future editions.
The league is slated to run biannually, focusing on nurturing junior talent aged between nine and 19.
Meanwhile, there will be no monetary rewards for junior players, who are only entitled to trophies.