Darren Appleton
 Appleton at the World 9-Ball Pool Championship in Doha, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born |
8 February 1976 (age 40) Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Pool | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Darren "Dynamite" Appleton (born 8 February 1976) is an English pool player.[1] He won the first WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2008 against Wu Jia-qing, the former world champion in both nine-ball and eight-ball from Taiwan.[2] With the victory, he became the second male player from Britain to win a world championship after Daryl Peach who won the world nine-ball title a year earlier.
Career
Appleton, who started playing pool at age 12,[3] was formerly the world ranked no. 1 player in British-style eight-ball pool.[3] He was twice runner-up in the WEPF Eight-ball Pool World Championship. In 2006, he joined the International Pool Tour's standardised eight-ball competition. That year, he also won the Straight Pool Challenge at the Derby City Classic.
On 5 October 2008, Appleton claimed an upset victory in the inaugural WPA World Ten-ball Championship over Wu Jia-qing, 13–11, winning the US$100,000 top prize: "I've waited 16 years for this and have to enjoy the moment. I had mixed feelings and I was looking back at my disappointments in the past. I was ranked first (earlier in the decade) in the world but I have never won a world championship... It was a dream come true for me and I'm happy to win the title here in the Philippines."[4][5][6]
In May 2009, Appleton challenged Dennis Hatch of the United States in a three-day race-to-100 challenge match of ten-ball. Hatch, however, came out the victor with a score of 100-83.[7] In the same year, he won the World Pool Masters tournament by defeating Nick van den Berg.[8]
Darren Appleton also won the 2010 U.S. Open 9-ball Championship against Corey Deuel of the United States in a match that went into extra racks.[9]
Appleton was a member of the victorious European team in the 2010 Mosconi Cup. He was named MVP for the tournament with a 5-1 win to loss ratio.
In 2012, Appleton won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, subduing China's Li Hewen in the finals with a score of 13-12.[10]
In 2013, he won the nine-ball tournament at the World Games 2013, beating Chang Jung-lin 11–10 in the final.
In 2013, he scored a record breaking 200 run in the World Straight Pool Championship against Francisco Bustamante, winning 200-1. This broke the following records:
- The World Straight Pool Championship record of 73 events with a 175 ball run which was previously held by Thorsten Hohmann.[11][12]
- The all-time record at any major event of 183 which was set at the US Open 14.1 by Joe Procita.
- First time, in a major tournament, of completing all 200 balls and finishing the game without missing a shot.
In 2014, he won the World Straight Pool Championship, beating Shane Van Boening in the final. Also he won 2014 World Cup of Pool playing with Karl Boyes for Team England.
On 2 February 2015, Darren Appleton won the 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship, defeating Mark Selby 21–19 in the final.[13][14]
References
- ↑ "Dynamite Blasts World 10-Ball Championship". insidepoolmag.com (October 2008)
- ↑ "Appleton Wins World Ten Ball Championship". AzBilliards.com. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- 1 2 Appleton, Darren (2008). "Darren Appleton". DarrenAppleton.com. Pontefract, UK: self-published. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ Joble, Rey (October 2008) "Appleton's 16-year Wait Over". manilastandardtoday.com
- ↑ Castillo, Musong R. (6 October 2008) "Appleton Nips Wu for Title; Pulpul 4th". Philippine Daily Inquirer
- ↑ Gasgonia, Dennis (5 October 2008) "Appleton Makes History as 1st World Ten Ball Champ". abs-cbnnews.com
- ↑ Katy Moore (8 May 2009). "Hatch over Appleton". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
- ↑ Matchroom Sport (11 May 2009). "Appleton Takes Masters Crown at First Attempt". AzBilliards.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ↑ Skip Maloney (23 October 2010). "Appleton wins US Open". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ↑ Ted Lerner (29 June 2012). "Its Dynamite in Doha". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ↑ Charlie Williams (24 August 2013). "DYNAMITE!! Darren Appleton Breaks World Record in 14.1 : Perfect 200 Run". thePoolScene.com. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ↑ "World 14.1 Record Darren Appleton Vs. Fransisco Bustamante 2013". www.Muellers.com. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ↑ Lai, Samuel (12 February 2015) Darren Appleton and Bai Ge Won the First Chinese Pool Champion. alison-chang.com
- ↑ Mark Selby v Darren Appleton, Final 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship. YouTube.com (2 February 2015). Retrieved on 2016-06-17.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darren Appleton. |
| Inaugural champion | WPA World Ten-ball Champion 2008 |
Succeeded by Mika Immonen |
| Preceded by Yukio Akagariyama |
WPA World Nine-ball Champion 2012 |
Succeeded by Thorsten Hohmann |
| Darren Appleton in Mosconi Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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