TABLE TENNIS: Keith Taylor lost his first match in more than a season when Chris Haines beat him in straight sets to signal the start of the new season.

Haines, from Downley, beat Speen's newly promoted Taylor 17-15, 11-5, 11-9 in their Premier Division match-up.Haines' teammate Danny Baxter then showed Colin Deaney what life in that league is all about when he won 11-5, 11-1, 11-1 and Duane Brooks then made it a Downley clean sweep in round one by beating Paul Trench in a reasonably close three legs, 12-10, 11-4, 15-13.

Haines and Baxter went on to complete maximums for their side with Speen's only success coming from Taylor's win over Brooks.

Champions Den thrashed Flackwell A 9-1 in their opening match of the season with Nick and Robert Hansell taking maximums and John Cooper winning two matches. Paul Savage gained Flackwell's consolation. Apollo D started their Division One campaign against Wesley A with a 7-3 loss.

In Division Three, Union Baptist's Ian Fearn started his match against Apollo G's Colwin Hunte well by winning the first two sets 11-6, 11-5.

He lost the next two to take the match into a deciding fifth set but kept his nerve and won the decider 11-7.

Tony Walters and Colin Gardiner made short work of Leo Barry and Jim Lloyd to give Union a 3-0 lead.

Walters saw his way past Hunte in three again while Fearn proceeded to win the first two sets of his game against Lloyd only to lose the next two.

Again, his resolve held as he took the fifth 11-5.

In the doubles, Gardiner and Fearn faced Lloyd and Hunte and the Apollo pair took the team's first game of the night. However, Gardiner squashed any thoughts of a comeback in three against Barry while Walters made it 7-1 for Union against Lloyd but Hunte got another game back for Apollo against Gardiner.

Fearn took his last game in the fifth to give his team a great start to the season with an 8-2 win.