ShareThisMANILA – Efren “Bata” Reyes, the Philippines’ billiards icon and former World 10-Ball champion, has been overtaken by Britain’s Darren “Dynamite” Appleton as the No. 1 moneymaker in the sport.
Efren 'Bata' Reyes
A report of the AZBilliards’ Player Money List up to December this year showed that the popular 55-year-old Reyes, known as the Magician, has accumulated a total earnings of US$ 93,709.
Reyes’s Puyat Billiards stablemate and current WPA World No. 1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante, is now ranked fourth with total earnings of US$ 81,851 while Negros Billiards Stable bet and reigning National Open champion Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza is in seventh place with US$ 66,842.
Appleton has recorded a total earnings of US$ 118,494 after Team Europe beat Team America during the Mosconi Cup last Dec. 9 to 12 at the York Hall Bethnal Green in London.
Appleton’s income grew after he dominated the 35th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship last Oct. 17 to 23 at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Virginia en route to a US$ 40,000 top prize.
Aside from Appleton, the other members of Team Europe are Karl Boyes, Nick Van den Berg, Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet. Each of them received US$ 15,000.
Rounding up the top 10 are No. 3 Mika Immonen (US$ 92,068), No. 5 Karl Boyes (US$ 78,483), No. 6 Shane Van Boening of the U.S. (US$ 76,391), No. 8 Ga Young Kim of Korea (US$ 63,730), No. 9 Rodney Morris of the U.S. (US$ 62,187) and No. 10 Thorsten Hohmann of Germany (US$ 59,507).