The tournament has seen a big increase in foreign participants with 15 men and five women from South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe competing for honours along with Namibia's top players.
A total of 32 men will compete in the Men's Open Division and eight women in the Women's Open Division.
Rodney Durbach of South Africa is the top seed amongst the men and is expected to receive his strongest competition from second seed Kelvin Ndhlovu of Zambia.
Ndhlovu won the title in 2015 and was runner-up to South Africa's Christo Potgieter last year.
Other contenders for the title include third seeded Manda Chilambwe of Zambia, fourth-seeded Michael Wood of South Africa and the up-and-coming South African Dylan Groenewald.
A total of 11 Zambians, one Zimbabwean and three South African players will compete in the Men's Open Division.
Namibia's top players are Andrew Forrest who competes on the professional circuit in South Africa, and the up-and-coming Kyle Kriel, who won the Wanderers Amstel Lite Championships in August after beating Clifford de Witt in a thrilling five-set final.
De Witt and Max Endjala are the other top-ranked Namibians who will be in action, while a total of 17 Namibians will compete in the Men's Open Division.
Amongst the women, the top-seeded Laura Siddal of Great Britain and second-seeded Milnay Louw of South Africa will be amongst the favourites to win the title.
Louw is the defending champion, having beat Siddal 3-0 in last year's final, while Siddal has won the title a record four times with her last triumph coming in 2015.
Other title contenders include the third-seeded Sharon Chifwembe of Zambia, the fourth-seeded Yemisi Olatunji of Nigeria and Cheyna Tucker of South Africa.
The Namibians competing in the Women's Open Division are up-and-coming 18-year-old Lida Marie Calitz, Adri Lambert and Belina Koekemoer.
For local players, there will also be a Men's A division of eight players and a B Division of six players, and a Women's A Division of four players.
The tournament gets underway with first round matches at 17h30 on Friday, continuing through till about 22h00.
The action continues on Saturday morning while the quarterfinals are scheduled to start at 13h00 on Saturday afternoon.
The women's semifinals start at 19h00 on Saturday evening and the men's semifinals at 09h00 on Sunday morning.
The finals are scheduled to start at 12h30 on Sunday, with the prize giving set for about 15h00.
Namibia Breweries, through its brand Aqua Splash are the main sponsors, while numerous other sponsors have also come on board. They include The Namibian, Solitaire Press, Tulipamwe Consulting Engineers, Woermann and Brock Hardware and Building Supplies, First National Bank of Namibia, Momentum Asset Management, Finsure BlueStar, Exclusively Human Resources, Paratus and Arebbusch Lodge.
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