The second match of the first session of the championship, stating at 10 am on 15 August 2019, opposes Tony Drago from Malta to Dene O’Kane from New-Zealand

Tony Drago, nicknamed “The Tornado” is fast, furious, emotional and larger than life.

Nothing will tell you more or better about Tony than this documentary he filmed with Snooker Legends.

At the snooker table, Tony is best known for his extremely fast play. Ronnie O’Sullivan is a snail in comparison…. there is never a dull moment when he plays.

Tony played a lot on the Snooker Legends circuit, and notably was a member of the winning “rest of the World” team at the 2013 Legends Cup!

In 2017, Tony suffered a very serious health scare. Fortunately he’s recovered now albeit a light lighter than he used to be. How godd is his form though remains to be seen.

You can read about Tony’s carreer in his profile on this blog

And more about Tony in his profile by Elliott West

Dene O’Kane was born in 1963, in New Zealand. He first qualified as a professional snooker player in 1984, and played on the snooker Main Tour until 2001. He then requalified in 2006 but was immediately relegated at the end of the 2006/2007 season. His highest ranking was 18, and his highest break a 140, which he made at the 1990 World Championship. His best result on the main tour was a final – which he lost by 9-8 to Mike Hallett – at the 1989 Hong Kong Open, back then a ranking event.

After being relegated in 2001, Dene continued to play as an amateur with considerable success: he won the BSF World Masters Championship three times (2004, 2005 and 2008) and he was Oceania Champions three times as well (2005, 2006, 2007).

More recently he played in the 2012 Seniors World Championship organised at the time by Worldsnooker. Dene was seeded in the last 16 and beat Barry West and Jimmy White before losing in the semi finals to Tony Chappel. Here is this SF match, refereed by the legendary John Williams, who also refereed the famous 1985 World final:

Mini (non-) preview

I have to admit that I have absolutely no clue about how this match will pan out. Dene played really well in 2012, but that was 7 years ago, Tony hasn’t played much over the last two years due to health issues. Therefore I honestly can’t predict anything at all.

This is the first of a series of posts, in the build-up of the 2019 WSS ROKiT World Championship, starting at the Crucible on August 15.

The opening match of the competition, played at 10 am on August 15, 2019 will see Tony Knowles do battle with Chen Gang.

Tony Knowles came to fame when he beat Steve Davis by 10-1 in the first round of the 1982 World Championship at the Crucible. Steve Davis was the defending champion, and the pre-tournament favourite for the title. Tony Knowles was an un-heralded outsider. That he beat Steve was a huge surprise, that he beat him by 10-1 was a seismic shock. He went on to reach the quarter-finals in the tournament. In the next two seasons he managed to win two ranking tournaments.

If you speak to Tony nowadays, he will probbably tell you how himself and his contemporaries traveled Europe and the world promoting snooker everywhere. Those memories are dear to him. And he’s right. How many remember that snooker was popular outside the UK/Ireland at the time? Yes, it was. Eurosport started covering snooker as early as the late 1980 th and lots clubs opened in western mainland Europe.

You can read Tony’s profile on this blog here

And Tony’s profile by Elliott West here

Chen Gang is a bit of an unknown quantity, to us Europeans at least. He’s 42 and from Anhui, a Chinese Province, west of Shanghai. He runs a club there, and is a respected coach. He also regularly competes, with success, in China national competitions. Chen Gang was considered to be the best player in Anhui – “Anhui first cue” – until recently, when Niu Zhuang, a 25 years old former professional raised the bar. Chen Gang was runner-up in the Chinese Qualifying Event and was afterwards chosen to be CBSA nominee for the 2019 WSS ROKiT World Championship.

Match mini preview

I would have liked to find some footage of Chen Gang in action in order to know a bit more about his game … but I failed. Therefore I have no idea about the type of player he is. However he’s relatively young, 42, and, more importantly, he is an active player who still competes regularly, as opposed to Tony Knowles who is retired and will probably lack any form of match sharpness. Therefore I make him favourite to win this match, despite the possibly intimidating surroundings and the China-UK  time difference.

Prediction: Chen Gang to win.

This was announced today by Jason Francis on social media:

LINE UP COMPLETE!
The Continent of Oceania will provide the final player in tomorrow’s draw for the 2019 ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Championship with the announcement today that Former Professional Dene O’Kane from New Zealand is coming back to the Crucible.
Dene is no stranger to the hallowed home of snooker having reached the quarter-finals of the World Professional Championships in 1987 and 1992. He appeared in the world championships six times, but never in consecutive years. 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.
He said “I am delighted to be a part of the new ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour. I must say a tour like this is long overdue and will be the perfect platform for many ex-professional players to compete again together with new opportunities for amateur players in participating countries. To be going back to the Crucible in little over a month is a dream come true”
Dene completes a field of 20 players from 13 countries across 5 continents and goes into tomorrow’s draw which is coming live from the Crucible Theatre at 11am. Matches start at 10am on Thursday 15th August with the Champion be crowned on the evening of Sunday 18th.

To watch tomorrow draw live from 11am click on to
https://www.facebook.com/WorldSeniorsSnooker/

For tickets to see Dene play alongside legends such as Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White, Dennis Taylor and many more go to
https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/snooker-seniors

#DaretoDream

The draw will indeed be made tomorrow in Sheffield at 11 am. People who want to attend it life can come to the Crucible Corner on Tudor Square. There will be a press conference and opportunities for photographs. Amongst those present will be Joe Johnson (1986 World Champion), Reanne Evans (12 times and reigning Women World Champion and Daniel Blunn (winner of multiple WDBS events).