Dene O'Kane (born 24 February 1963) is a former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player from Auckland, New Zealand.

Career

O'Kane won the 1980 New Zealand Amateur Championship, and represented New Zealand at the 1982

IBSF World Snooker Championship The IBSF World Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation. A nu ...

, winning six of his nine group matches, but failing to qualify on difference. He turned professional in 1984, In his first professional tournament, the 1984 International Open, he won four qualifying matches, 5–2 against

Maurice Parkin Maurice Parkin is an English former professional snooker player. Career Parkin turned professional in 1971, entering the 1972 World Championship that season. He won his first qualifying round match 11–10 against Geoff Thompson, but was def ...

, 5–1 against Eddie McLaughlin, 5–4 against

Jack Fitzmaurice Jack Fitzmaurice (25 April 1928 – January 2005) was an English professional snooker player. Career Born in Solihull, Fitzmaurice was runner-up in the English Amateur Championship in 1958, defeated 8–11 by Marcus Owen in the final. He turn ...

and 5–4 against

Mike Hallett Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator. Career Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ran ...

, before losing 3–5 to

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8 ...

. Also in his debut season, he reached the quarter-finals of the 1985 British Open, and progressing through the qualifying rounds with four wins and a

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, reached the last 32 of the 1985 World Snooker Championship, losing 4–10 to David Taylor. He reached the quarter-finals of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

s in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. He reached the final stages (last 32 or better) of the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

six times, but never in consecutive years. He was the runner up in the

1989 Hong Kong Open The 1989 Hong Kong Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament, that was held from 7–13 August 1989 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong. Mike Hallett won the tournament by defeating Dene O'Kane Dene O'Kane ...

, losing 8–9 to

after leading 8–6. He first reached the top 32 in the world rankings for the 1985/1986 season, returning 3 years later. In 1991/1992 he reached his career high of 18. He remained in the top 32 until 1996/1997. Having won £415,000 in prize money during his career, O'Kane started a career in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

in 2007.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Team finals: 1

Amateur finals: 12 (8 titles)

References

External links

Profile on worldsnooker.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okane, Dene New Zealand snooker players 1963 births Living people Competitors at the 2009 World Games Sportspeople from Auckland