Squash Wales pay tribute to one of their own at Llanishen Leisure Centre next month.

Ross Scaccia, a leading member of the St Mellons and Llanishen clubs, passed away in December and a tournament has been organised in his memory.

The Scaccia event will be played at Llanishen LC over the weekend of Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6 and is a Squash Wales ranking tournament.

All profit will go to the British Heart Foundation.

Welsh squash official Byron Lloyd Lewis was close to Ross and said: “He was a friend of mine and a friend of squash. I introduced him to team squash.

“Ross and Dave Williams, the ex-South Glamorgan President, asked me to form a team together at Llanishen. This was the start of the modern day Llanishen teams and as you can see it has developed into a highly successful club, mostly down to Ross and Dave’s efforts.

“Ross was also heavily involved in St Mellons squash would always try and support me in any event that I tried to organise.

“In my eyes and in his own way he was a legend of squash. He use to call me ‘mother’. This was because when I started the squash team with him I was the only person who had team experience, so I use to be a bit bossy to the other players and look after them.

“They would say I was like a mother to them.

“Ross was affectionately known as ‘Barbie’ to his friends. This name was given to him because of his frequent barbeques. He invited my wife and I to some of them.

“My wife and I are vegetarians and he would say ‘I’ll be cooking some cardboard for you both then’ – meaning Quorn fillets.

“I also remember once when I went there that he counted how many profiteroles I had eaten. I know I have a sweet tooth, but he told me at the end of the evening that I had eaten 42 and that it was a South Glam Record and I still think I hold it to this day.

“Fond memories of a great guy.”

Scaccia passed away last December aged 66, husband of Josie and much loved dad of Giovanna, Annamaria and Anthony. A loving Grampy to all his grandchildren.

The closing date for entries for the tournament is this Friday (April 27) and everybody who knew Ross is encouraged to enter the tournament or attend the finals.

Llanishen Leisure are providing their courts for the tournament up to the finals, which will be played at St Mellons Hotel.

ROSS SCACCIA OPEN – May 5 and May 6th. Closing date Froday, April 27. 

Professional squash returns to Cardiff during May when the second Welsh Open championships are played at Rhiwbina SRC.

Welsh players Joel Makin, Peter Creed and Emyr Evans could all be eligible to compete in the Professional Squash Association $10,000 World Tour tournament.

Rhiwbina launched the Welsh Open a year ago, bringing a PSA event to Wales for the first time in a decade, and this years even runs from Wednesday, May 9 to Sunday, May 12.

Leicester’s George Parker, now at 76 in the World rankings, won the title last year when Creed, who plays out of the Rhiwbina club, reached the semi-finals.

It was a hugely successful week of squash for Rhiwbina with sell-out attendances attracted for the later rounds.

A total of 30 players from in and around the World’s top 100 entered and there were 16 players in the main tournament which followed qualifying rounds.

There were competitors from Pakistan, India, England, Scotland, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Kuwait, Ireland and hosts Wales in the first round.