Rogove’s cup agony

Rogove, from Totteridge, went into the tournament ranked sixth, yet on the opening day she proved something of a surprise package, beating the second, third, fourth and fifth seeds in fine style in Grantham. Rogove effectively finished the U15 tournament in joint second place, registering seven wins and just two losses.

JCoSS pupil Rogove was just one winning point away from becoming national champion.  It was a cruel twist of numeric calculation that saw her final placing at fourth by just 0.023 per cent points. This was so, despite beating her opponent who finished in third place and she also beat the eventual champion – the only player of the tournament to do so.

Rogove played 55 sets of gruelling, high-octane table tennis over two days across nine best-of-seven set matches.  She was widely credited by many as the outstanding performer of the tournament, having claimed the scalp of eventual winner Ruby Chan.

Ranked eighth in the country at U15 level, Rogove prepared well for the event with a four-match winning streak in the regional French League the previous week.