A young man struck and killed by a car in Toronto Wednesday is being remembered as an exceptional squash player with a bright future.

Adrian Dudzicki, 23, was biking to the National Squash Academy around 9:30 a.m. when he was hit by a BMW at Yukon Lane and Sheppard Ave. W. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His death is Toronto’s 54th traffic fatality this year.

Dudzicki, known as “Dudz” to his friends, moved here from Ottawa about three years ago and had been training at the National Squash Academy ever since, said Danny Dacosta, executive director of Squash Canada.

“He was a squash nut,” Dacosta said. “He loved to play with anyone. And he’d be on the court 10, 12 hours a day if he could.”

Canada’s squash community is devastated by the loss, Dacosta said.

“He’s a family member. . . . We’re taking it pretty hard because he was a bright light for the future for us.”

Last year Dudzicki achieved a career-high ninth place ranking in Canadian men’s open singles, and ranked 136th in the Professional Squash Association’s world rankings. He won the Ontario Squash Singles Championship in 2012 and was the Canadian University and College Champion in 2010. Then a political science student at the University of Ottawa, Dudzicki represented Canada at the 2010 World University Games in Melbourne, Australia.

“He was a warrior on the court,” Dacosta said. “He gave it everything he had every time he went on the court.”

Born in Latina, Italy, Dudzicki moved to Ottawa when he was a child. His passion for squash was stoked at the Ottawa Athletic Club where, at 12, he started playing with professional Johnny Wilson.

“He was my student, my friend and in many ways my teacher,” Wilson said in a release. “He was a true free spirit who lived his life the way he wanted. He was admired.”

Squash Canada performance director Jamie Hickox said in the release that Wilson found Dudzicki to be “a bit of a lost soul” when the two first met. Over time, however, the young man’s journey led him to become a “hard working and gritty squash pro who was ready to take on the world,” Hickox said.

Dudzicki recently returned to squash after taking some time off from the sport to work and save enough to fund his run at the Professional Squash Association.

He was scheduled to play in an exhibition in Orangeville next month.

“A gentle and intelligent man, the community has lost a bright light and a kid who had every chance to make his mark on the world squash scene,” Hickox said.

Aleksey Aleksev, 20, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death. He was expected to appear in court Thursday morning.

Six people who tried to help Dudzicki at the scene are asked to contact police.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

His death was just one of a rash of traffic fatalities in the GTA this week.

A 4-year-old Mississauga boy was killed crossing an intersection near his school Wednesday morning. The boy, a kindergarten student, was walking with one of his parents at the time.

A 36-year-old man died after being struck by a Dodge Neon in Oshawa around 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Police say they believe alcohol was a factor in that collision.