THE daughter of a sports-loving dad who died three years ago will pay tribute to him at a charity tournament this weekend.

Rachel Pitson has organised the "ultimate challenge" in racket sports to remember keen coach Richard Lawrence and raise awareness of the condition that killed him.

Players will gather in Abingdon to whack their bats at ping-pong balls and shuttlecocks in a four-sport session called racketlon, which combines table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis into one endurance event.

Mrs Pitson said: "It’s the ultimate challenge for anyone interested in racket sports. It’s definitely got a community feel, it’s a lot of fun – there’s no other sport like it.

"Dad was really into it and organised racketlon events. He spent a lot of time and effort helping people improve."

The 26-year-old, who grew up in Chilton near Didcot where Mr Lawrence lived, will host the matches on Saturday and Sunday at White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre.

The events will raise money for Thrombosis UK, which supports people living with blood clots including deep vein thrombosis – the condition that sparked Mr Lawrence's death in 2013, aged just 59.

Mrs Pitson said: "It was completely sudden and unexpected.

"We want to raise awareness – it can happen to anyone. People think you only get clots if you’re lying still for hours on end but dad was a really active sportsman. We want people to be aware of the symptoms."

Mr Lawrence, who coached badminton for a junior county team in Oxfordshire, was an IT worker at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell and coached sports in his spare time.

Mrs Pitson, who now lives in Warrington near Liverpool, said: "He always took part in lots of sports, he really enjoyed coaching. He was a really good player but sometimes played down to make sure the younger players had a good match.

"He always wanted at some point to start his own tournament near his hometown so that was the impetus to make that happen. It’s important for me to have it in Abingdon; dad was always trying to get locals involved and some players knew dad personally. It’s nice to know people still remember him from that."

She said dad-of-two Mr Lawrence used to take her and her brother Stephen to play racket sports, adding: "When we were growing up it was a family thing."

Mrs Pitson, whose dad never got to walk her down the aisle after dying during her engagement, has previously organised two other tournaments in his memory.

Players have paid £30 to join in at the weekend and will start their serves from 11.30am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.