Diane Schöler (née Rowe; 14 April 1933 – 19 June 2023) was an English

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. In 1966 she married German table tennis player

Eberhard Schöler Eberhard Schöler (born 22 December 1940) is a retired table tennis competitor from West Germany who won several medals at the world and European championships between 1962 and 1972. He was a defensive player known for his calm demeanor, for wh ...

, and from that time on competed for

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. From 1951 to 1972 she won several medals in single, double, and team events in the

Table Tennis European Championships The European Table Tennis Championships is an international table tennis competition for the national teams of the member associations of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). First held in 1958, the ETTU organised the European Championships ev ...

, and in the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

. Rowe started training in table tennis aged 14, under Viktor Barna. She was left-handed and until 1951 played a defensive style, but later put more accent on attacking. In early 1966, she married Eberhard Schöler and moved to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, where she gave birth to a daughter. She retired from competitions in 1973 and until 1997 worked as a table tennis coach. In 1993 she received the ITTF Merit Award, and in 2001 the Dieter Mauritz Gedächtnispreis. Rowe also won 17

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

titles. Diane Rowe had a twin sister,

Rosalind Rowe Rosalind Cornett (née Rowe) (14 April 193315 June 2015) was a British table tennis player who multiple competitions at the World Table Tennis Championships between 1951 and 1955. Table tennis career Rowe, and her twin sister Diane Rowe, Diane ...

, who was also an international table tennis player. They often played doubles together. In 1955 they published a book ''The twins on table tennis''. Their father was the amateur

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Vivian Rowe, and their uncle was footballer Ronald Rowe. Rowe died of cancer in Düsseldorf on 19 June 2023, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Diane 1933 births 2023 deaths English female table tennis players German female table tennis players People from Marylebone Sportspeople from the City of Westminster Table tennis players from London D 20th-century English sportswomen 20th-century German sportswomen

See also

References