It could be the year of the comeback in the Braintree Table Tennis League. In addition to the already mentioned Dave Punt, Roy Hooper and Ian Rubens, other once familiar names have been appearing on scorecards.

It’s many years (decades, even) since Gary Copsey was a regular fixture in the league but he made his return in Liberal B’s ranks in their opening match at Rayne C.

It was a winning return too as he and teammates Alistair Hill and James Mullane all remained unbeaten in the 10-0 win that briefly took them to the top of the division one table.

It was necessarily brief as they did not have a match in the second week of the season and their place was taken by champions Rayne A, who racked up wins of 9-1 over Sudbury Nomads and 10-0 at Netts B.

Last season’s runners-up Netts A also started with a win, 7-3 over Black Notley B, but it’s Rayne B who are in second place in the embryonic table after a draw against Liberal A and an 8-2 win over Rayne C. Oliver Hicks won five out of six.

Notley A also started with a win and a draw. They beat Liberal C 6-4 and then drew with Nomads. Chris Parr won five sets, beaten only by Nomads’ Aron Jordan.

The most eye-catching result of the first fortnight was Liberal C’s 6-4 win over their own A team, and within that the most individual eye-catcher: a win for Garry Fryatt over former men’s singles champion Brandon Crouchman.

Crouchman had not played competitively for a couple of months and, according to Liberal secretary Robin Armstrong, it showed. But that should not take away from an excellent win by Fryatt, who stuck to his guns after losing the fourth end 11-4.

Sudbury Wanderers head division two after a 7-3 win over Notley C. New signing Natalie Dodd earned a quick promotion from division three and showed she belonged at the higher level by remaining undefeated.

Rayne E also made it two out of two with a 6-4 win over Notley E. They are joined in second place by their own D team who beat Notley F 8-2.

Yeldham Whitlocks A recovered from their first-week defeat by scoring their first success at this level, a 6-4 win over Netts C.

After knocking the dust off in his first outing, Roy Hooper showed, as expected, that he will be a handful at this level by winning his three singles.

Sudbury’s C team, the Strollers, matched the Wanderers by winning their first two matches in division three, the latest a 6-4 victory over Notley G.

Richard Kemp, in division two last season, was untroubled and new signing David Hitchen also showed up well with two wins.

They are two points adrift of Finchingfield A, who followed their first-week 7-3 win by taking all 10 against Notley H. Peter Clark, another returnee, was one of those unbeaten.

Yeldham B remain unbeaten, following their draw of the first week with a 9-1 win over Netts E.

It was Rayne G who featured the other comeback of the week. Ted Sims returned after being out for some while and showed he’s still got what it takes by winning his three sets against Rayne H.