Paul Coll and Joelle King, two of Kiwi’s finest squash players, will be amongst the various names ready to compete at the men’s and women’s Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour Silver event at the Trustpower Arena.

The 29-year-old Coll achieved a Kiwi-first after rising to number one in the world on March 1, thanks to an outstanding 12 months and a title winning run at the Windy City Open just days ago.

In that time, he became the first New Zealander to win the prestigious Allam British Open in August, and he added the Canary Warf Classic and Squash Open Black Ball to his list of accolades.

In February, he was nominated for Sportsman of the Year at New Zealand’s famous Halberg Awards.

Meanwhile, world number six King, 33, remains a strong force in women’s squash and has been an ever-present in the world’s top-10 over the course of the last four seasons.

One of King's most-successful years came in 2018 where she won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, in the women's singles and doubles, and ended the year with the Hong Kong Open title to become the first Kiwi to win a major PSA World Tour title in 15 years.

In total, King is a three time Commonwealth Games champion, a one-time silver medallist and two-time bronze medallist.

"It will be huge for New Zealand sports fans to watch and appreciate the talents of Paul Coll and Joelle King in person in a quality tournament in their own country," Martin Dowson, the chief executive of Squash New Zealand, said.

"It’s remarkable to have two sportspeople ranked inside the top-10 in the world doing so well.

"It will be a massive boost to the sport having this prestigious tournament back on the international squash calendar and the New Zealand Open is set to once again be a very sought after event for 2022 and many years to come."

Alex Gough, PSA chief executive, added: "The PSA World Tour already has a strong presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, and we’re delighted to expand our global reach into Oceania too with the staging of the New Zealand Open."

The tournament, sponsored by New Zealand-based Robertson Lodges, real estate company Barfoot and Thompson and Coll's clothing brand Iwi Athletica, will boast a prize fund of $US150,000 (£112,000/€136,000) with the bulk of it going to the most successful participants.