TTT31. Summer 2023

second 20-22, the third went their way 21-19 but the fourth saw the score levelled 24-22. All to play for in the
fifth game which turned out to be the easiest of all as they won 21-13. Incredible scenes followed.
The Rowe twins were feted not only in England but around the world, they were true superstars of the 1950s
and invitations came pouring in. A very official one invited them to play an exhibition match before the
Swedish Royal Family in 1951. Prince Gustav, now the King of Sweden, who was then four years old went
scrambling around the sumptuous room retrieving balls wherever they ended up.
Another remarkable tour was three months spent in New Zealand and Australia in 1953. The twins left England
on 7 th May and arrived back on home soil on 7 th September, not only three months in the two countries but
two long sea voyages as well. It was the sea journey home that changed both Ros and Di’s lives as Ros met her
future husband en route, she married in 1955 and retired from play shortly after.
Di and Ros’ second world title came in 1954 at the Empire Pool and Sports Arena, Wembley, and it was an all
England final with Kathy Best and Ann Haydon the opponents. The score -19, 10, 19, 20. Di and Ros held aloft
the W J Pope Trophy for the second time, presented by the Dowager, Lady Swaythling.
Di made over 400 appearances for England, won two gold world championships medals, eight silver and ten
bronze. She was a member of the England team which won the first European Championships Women’s Team
title and went on to win again in 1964/65, she also won the Women’s Doubles twice with Mary
Shannon/Wright with who she formed a world class partnership. She added five silver and five bronze medals
to her collection. 19 English Open titles were added to the medal collection as well as innumerable foreign
Opens. In the first English Closed (now named the National Championships) she won the treble, Women’s
Singles, Women’s Doubles with Jill Rook/Mills and Mixed Doubles with Johnny Leach. She won 13 titles
altogether before playing in and for Federal Germany following her marriage to Eberhard ‘Ebby’ Scholer, the
top world class German international. They married in 1966 and she moved to Dusseldorf where she lived until
her death.
When Di stopped playing competitively, she turned to coaching before following in the footsteps of her former
coach and mentor, Victor Barna, as President of the Swaythling Club International (SCI). She held that position
for many years before being elected as Honorary President.
Di has received many other honours and accolades over the years: the ITTF Merit Award in 1993, the ETTA’s
Victor Barna Award with Ros in 1954 and again in 1955, Player Achievement Award in 1983, Vice-President in
2021 and inducted into TTE Centenary Hall of Fame in 2022. The ETTU honoured Di when she was inducted
into their Hall of Fame in 2016, she was also made a Vice-President of the International Club of England in
1964 and the Veterans’ English Table Tennis Society in 1987.
It is over 75 years since Di first held a bat in her hand and since that time, she has been a player, a captain, a
coach, a World, European and National champion and a superb role model. Di had a wonderful life and one
for which we give thanks – and thank goodness the twins never received those bikes back in 1947!
Sadly, twin sister Ros passed away in 2015.
By Diane Webb
Table Tennis Times 31: Summer 2023
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