October 6, 2025 | Ron Fosker
New – or newish – players were to the fore in the first week of the new Braintree Table Tennis League season.
Champions Netts A got off to a winning start with an 8-2 win over promoted Sudbury Wanderers. There were expected three wins for Paul Davison and James Hicks but Richard Fifield and David Hitchen, both new to the league last season, got the better of Joe Meleschko.
Alesha Ellis-Austin, also in her second season and promoted this year to division one, joined her Black Notley A team-mates in remaining unbeaten against the clubâ€s B team.
Thereâ€s nothing new about Chris Parr, Sean Clift and Adam Clift, but they are appearing in Netts Bâ€s colours this season after their move from Black Notley, and opened their account with a 9-1 win over Liberal B.
Paul Lombardiâ€s time in the league goes back a long way but he can scarcely have played better than his performance for Rayne B against last seasonâ€s runners-up Rayne A. He won his three singles and joined Keith Martin to win the doubles in the 5-5 draw.
In division two, Netts Dâ€s new signing Christopher Gibbons made an unbeaten start to his Braintree career in the 10-0 win over newly promoted Sudbury Strollers. He was joined by JJ Calisin, up a division from last season, and dad Jimmy Calisin.
The other Calisin, Charles, moved up to division two last season and showed his continuing improvement with excellent wins over Dave Marsh and Adi Kamma in Netts Câ€s 8-2 defeat by potential title challengers Rayne C. Matthew Brown carried on where he left off last season and was the only one to overcome Calisin.
Last yearâ€s division three champions Finchingfield A got off to an unfortunate start when Peter Clark injured his back and had to pull out after one set of their match against Rayne D.
He had lost at 11-8 in the fifth game against Richard Whiteside, who went on to win his other two singles in the 6-4 win.
Former Liberal player Trevor Laird has joined Finchingfield B in division three and was unbeaten in their 8-2 win over Yeldham Whitlocks B. Lucien Nolan-Bradfordâ€s evening was similarly unblemished.
Notley Hâ€s new signing Wayne Wilson took his three singles against the clubâ€s E team. That included a win at 11-9 in the fifth game against Peter Davenport, who lost only nine out of 47 last season.
Karl Bowden started his Braintree League career with three wins for Rayne G in the draw with Netts F.
Aivars Taimins and Jonathan Acharya, both products of Notleyâ€s casual club, made their league debuts for Notley E in the 6-4 win against Notley G. Taimins won two and Acharya one. Peter Foster, back in action after a two-year absence through injury, also won twice but none of them could get past Ben Southgate
There were six more familiar names in Rayne Fâ€s 8-2 win over Netts E, two of whom, Conrad Gomes and Dave Whiting, remained unbeaten.
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