More than 140 players will be competing for a prize fund of over £4,000 at the Liverpool Senior 4* this weekend thanks to a generous donation by London 2026 umpire Dr Sunil Sapre.
The event will see the Men’s Open Singles and Women’s Singles champions take home £500 each, with £200 to the runners-up and £100 to the semi-finalists.
The winners and runners-up in every category will win cash, with the total prize fund standing at £4,050.
That has been donated by Dr Sapre, who is a GP in the city and plays in the Liverpool and Southport leagues, as well as umpiring at domestic and international events including the ITTF World Team Championships in London this year and the WTT Feeder Manchester.
The tournament is celebrating the centenary of the Liverpool League, but Dr Sapre is looking beyond this year, with a personal commitment to support future editions of the 4* as well.
“I’ve been in Liverpool for 30 years and consider this ‘my’ tournament, so when the organising committee were looking for support, I thought I should do something,” said Dr Sapre (pictured above).
“I identified with Tom Purcell (from the organising committee) that prize money was a big expense and I was happy to contribute so that it was secured and everyone could concentrate on organising the tournament.
“It’s a tournament for the centenary, but it has to continue for the future as well, so you have to have good prize money otherwise no one will come and it will fizzle out after one year.”
Having a deep prize pool has helped attract a good entry of 144 players to the two-day event at Wavertree Tennis Centre, a popular venue from the days of the Liverpool Grand Prix.
Banded competitions take place on Saturday, with Men’s Open Singles, Women’s Singles, Under-21 and doubles categories on Sunday.
Spectators are welcome and Dr Sapre said: “It’s a strong entry – people can come and watch good players and see good matches and learn from them.”
Among those competing is Chris Doran, who is top seed in the Men’s Open Singles. He is followed by two silver medallists from the ITTF World Masters this year – second seed Thomas Guignat of France and fourth seed Victor Guang Shi were doubles partners and reached the MD40 final at that event.
In between them is third seed Lorestas Trumpauskas, a European Veteran champion from 2025. There are 20 groups in total in the category.
The Women’s Singles sees Sophie Earley as the top seed, with Yat Poon, Patricia Ianau and Aleksandra Titievskaja following.
The tournament also features Men’s Open and Women’s Doubles – and Shi & Guignat not surprisingly team up again in the former.
