Players from Rhiwbina SRC are top seeds for two major squash tournaments in South Wales this month.
Simon Dews is number one at the Ross Scaccia event which starts at Llanishen Leisure Centre this evening, while World ranked Peter Creed has top ranking for the $10,000 Welsh Open.
Dews plays Rhiwbina clubmate Mark Davies in the first round of the Scaccia tournament, while second seed Owain Bass, who plays out of host club Llanishen, takes on Marco Perna.
Squash Wales pay tribute to Ross Scaccia, a leading member of the St Mellons and Llanishen clubs who passed away in December, by organising the new ranking tournament.
The event will be played at Llanishen LC this weekend with the first matches played this evening, while all finals are at St Mellons on Sunday.
All profit will go to the British Heart Foundation.
There are four sections with Dews number one in the A event and the other favourites are Carlton Chivers (B), Mike Jukle (C) and Neil Morrissey (D).
Welsh squash official Byron Lloyd Lewis was a friend of Ross and said: “He was a friend of mine, a friend of squash and a legend of squash.
“Fond memories of a great guy.”
First round draw for the A tournament: Simon Dews v Mark Davies, Chris Price v James King, Alex Rowlands v Mark Ackerman, Sarah Clode v Corey Kearns, Gary Fry v Stuart Divry, Andy Stancaitis v Kyle Price, Connor Hill v Rob Petterson, Marco Perna v Owain Bass.
Ten of the World’s leading 100 players have entered the Welsh Open, which runs from Monday, May 7 until Saturday, May 12 at Rhiwbina SRC.
Reigning champion George Parker returns to defend his title and is second seed with Caerphilly-born Creed, who played for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, number one.
England’s Patrick Rooney, who was runner-up in the first Welsh Open a year ago, is also competing.
Players from Brazil, Kuwait, Jamaica, Finland, Spain, Jordan, Pakistan, Malaysia, USA, England, Scotland and hosts Wales are in the draw.
Rhiwbina’s Owen Heyes is among the Welsh players in the qualifying event along with Owain Taylor, David Haley, Elliott Morris, and Lewis Poole.
Welsh Open leading seeds are: 1 Peter Creed (Wales, World ranking 55), George Parker (England, 56), Richie Fallows (England, 62), Chris Hanson (USA, 76), Mahd Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia, 81), Ammar Altamimi (Kuwait, 86), Ahson Ayaz (Pakistan, 87), Mohammed Alsarraj (Jordan, 90), Patrick Rooney (England, 92), Jaymie Haycocks (England, 93), Carlos Cornes Ribadas (Spain, 104), Emyr EVans (Wales, 134).
Click attached for the draw with a full list of the players and their world ranking.
Rhiwbina Squash Club Open. The only annual professional squash tournament in Wales. Tickets from: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rhiwbina-squash-club-open