Snooker master visits Raetihi

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 550, 23 August 1994, Page 1

Snooker master visits Raetihi

Dene O'Kane visited the Ruapehu Cosmopolitan Club on Saturday night, 13 August, to play snooker against representatives from the clubs in the area. This was Dene' s second visit to the Raetihi Cossie Club, the last one just over two years ago. As his first visit was so very successful, arrangements were made to have Raetihi on his itinerary for this tour. - The spectators came from as far as Taumarunui to see Dene play, as one of the visitors explained: "We felt that we would be able to get a closer view in Raetihi than in Taumarunui." The Raetihi Cosmopolitan Club players were Steve Grey, Lindsay Day, Bill McDonnell, Trevor Fredericksen

and Pine Wilson. National Park Cosmopolitan Club was represented by Sonny Wallace, with Ray Godfrey playing for the Ohakune Club. Dene had travelled down from Auckland during the day to play in Raetihi. He took just a few minutes to familiarise himself with the club's table before settling down to a game. , An allowance of 350 points was made on the game, equalling 50 points to each player. . During his first frame after Dene had missed a shot,^^r a spectator was heard to remark: "He is human^P^ after all," and then when Dene had troubl^^PJ\^J ^ Turn to Page2^rJ^

Dene O'Kane

From Page 1 potting the pink ball, he stated, "We'll get it down sooner or later." Steve Grey played the first frame; second frame was played by Sonny Wallace, from a break by Dene of 121. Third frame was Lindsay Day ' s turn, with the fourth frame being played by Ray Godfrey. Frame five was Bill McDonnell's tum with Dene having a break of 125. Sixth frame was against Trevor Fredericksen and the seventh frame was Pine Wilson's turn to show the talent of the locals. The final score was Dene O'Kane 694 with the Combined Clubs 514. After the match one of the local players remarked, "It was a really enjoyable game but I don't think that Dene will be back again with the competition we had here for him." "The evening was a great success and this time the spectators were quieter throughout the game, making it better for everyone," said Brad Oliver. Dene finished the evening with some fine trick shots and gave a few pointers on playing the game. He said, "I' m happy to have two centuries tonight," and then went on to say that he is ranked 1 1th in the world at present and will be returning to England in four week' s time for the start of the snooker season in September.