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WPA Top 32 in for World 10B
Oct 1, 2008, 6:44 PM

In the wake of last year’s win, Appleton has joined the short list of the world’s best.

Darren Appleton has hardly rested on his laurels after winning the 2008 World 10-Ball Championship. In the 11 months since the biggest win in his professional career, “Dynamite Darren,” thanks in part to a second major victory at May’s World Pool Masters, has risen to No. 1 in the rankings kept by the World Pool-Billiard Association. So he’ll be sure to get a shot at repeating as World 10-Ball champ, as the WPA announced the top 32-ranked players will receive guaranteed spots in the 128-player event — scheduled for Nov. 25-30 in Manila, Philippines. Besides the top 32 ranking players, spots will be allocated mainly to the continental federations, which then award the spots to deserving players. Qualifiers will also be held in the days before the tournament to offer hopefuls another avenue into the competition. The complete list of the WPA’s Top 32 follows: 1. Darren Appleton (Great Britain) 2. Ralf Souquet (Germany) 3. Mika Immonen (Finland) 4. Niels Feijen (Netherlands) 5. Shane Van Boening (U.S.) 6. Marcus Chamat (Sweden) 7. Daryl Peach (Great Britain) 8. Jeffrey De Luna (Philippines) 9. Demosthenes Pulpul (Philippines) 10. Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) 11. Radoslaw Babica (Poland) 12. Corey Deuel (U.S.) 13. Ko Pin-Yi (Taiwain) 14. Ricky Wang (Indonesia) 15. Charlie Williams (U.S.) 16. Lu Hui Chan (Taiwain) 17. Fu Che-wei (Taiwain) 18. Satoshi Kawabata (Japan) 19. Liu Haitao (China) 20. Chris Melling (Great Britain) 21. Marlon Manalo (Philippines) 22. Dimitri Jungo (Switzerland) 23. Antonio Gabica (Philippines) 24. Bruno Muratore (Italy) 25. Yang Ching-Shun (Taiwain) 26. Hung-Hsiang Wang, TPE 27. Mark Gray, GBR 28. Ruslan Chinakhov, RUS 29. Tyler Edey, CAN 30. Imran Majid, GBR 31. Allan Cuartero, PHI 32. Nick Van Den Berg, NED