Darren Appleton (born 8 February 1976) is an English pool player, best known for playing

Eight-ball Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls ...

Nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of ...

and

Ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "" Although the game has existed for since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s ...

pool."Dynamite Blasts World 10-Ball Championship"
. insidepoolmag.com (October 2008) Appleton won the

2008 WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA 10-Ball World Championship 2008 was a ten-ball pool tournament held from September 29 to October 5, 2008, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. The first edition of the WPA World Ten-ball ...

(the inaugural 10-ball world championship) against Wu Jia-qing, of China, a former world champion in both nine-ball and eight-ball. Appleton is also a world champion in

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of ...

, having won the

2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship The 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was a professional nine-ball pocket billiards (pool) championship, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and organised by Matchroom Sport. It was held from June 22 to 29 in Doha, Qatar, ...

, defeating Li He-wen in the final. His entrance by walk on music from “ Here I Go Again” by

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

Career

Early career

Appleton, who started playing pool at age 12, was formerly the world ranked no. 1 player in British-style eight-ball pool. He was twice runner-up in the

WEPF The World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) is an international pool governing body overseeing international tournaments and rankings in the British-originating variant of eight-ball pool played with red and yellow unnumbered balls instead of the ...

Eight-ball Pool World Championship. In 2006, he joined the International Pool Tour's standardised eight-ball competition. In 2008, he won the

Straight Pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many billiard balls as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of pool played in profession ...

Challenge at the Derby City Classic.

World Ten-ball Champion (2008–2012)

On 5 October 2008, Appleton claimed an upset victory in the inaugural

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing *Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance Ana ...

Ten-ball World 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." 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. In the same year, he won the

World Pool Masters The World Pool Masters is an annual international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters (until 1995) until players from other parts of the globe were invited. History Throughout much of its history, the tournament ...

tournament by defeating Nick van den Berg. 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. Appleton was a member of the victorious European team in the

2010 Mosconi Cup The 2010 Mosconi Cup, the 17th edition of the annual nine-ball pool (cue sports), pool competition between teams representing Europe and the United States, took place 9–12 December 2010 at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, England. Europ ...

. He was named MVP for the tournament, after winning 5 of his 6 matches in the series. In 2011 he defended his title, winning the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship again.

World Nine-ball Champion (2012–present)

In 2012, Appleton won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, subduing China's

Li Hewen Li Hewen (; born November 30, 1981, in Liaoning, China) is a Chinese professional pool player. He made it to the finals in the Vietnam leg of the 2006 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, but lost to Efren Reyes. In 2006, Li Hewen reached the semi-finals ...

in the final with a score of 13–12. Later, in 2013, he also won the nine-ball tournament at the World Games 2013, beating Chang Jung-lin 11–10 in the final. In 2014, he won the Dragon 14.1 Tournament, defeating Shane Van Boening in the final. Also he won 2014

World Cup of Pool The World Cup of Pool is an annual international single-elimination tournament for doubles teams in nine-ball pool competition. The event has been dominated by the Philippines and China, with both nations winning the event on three occasions. Hi ...

playing with Karl Boyes for Team England. On 2 February 2015, Darren Appleton won the 2015 CBSA World Chinese Eight-ball Championship, defeating world champion snooker player

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the a ...

21–19 in the final.Mark Selby v Darren Appleton, Final 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship
YouTube.com (2 February 2015). Retrieved on 17 June 2016.

Titles and achievements

* 2017 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame * 2017 Super Billiards Expo One Pocket Championship * 2016

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

* 2016 Super Billiards Expo One Pocket Championship * 2015

* 2015 CBSA World Chinese Eight-ball Championship * 2015 Kings Cup 10-Ball Team East vs. West * 2015 American Straight Pool Championship * 2014

* 2014 Accu-Stats All-Star Invitational * 2014 Dragon 14.1 Tournament * 2014 Accu-Stats 8-Ball Invitational * 2014 American Straight Pool Championship * 2013 EPBF Player of the Year * 2013

* 2013 World Games Nine-ball Singles * 2013 West Coast Challenge 10-Ball * 2013 Derby City Classic 14.1 Challenge * 2013 West Coast Challenge One Pocket * 2012

* 2012 International Challenge of Champions * 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship * 2011

* 2011 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship * 2011 International Challenge of Champions * 2011 Beassy 9-Ball Open * 2011

- with (

Karl Boyes Karl W. Boyes (March 1, 1936 – May 11, 2003) was a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Biography He was a 1959 graduate of Edinboro State College and attended classes at Allegheny College and Union College. He was ...

) * 2010 Billiards Digest Player of the Year * 2010 Mosconi Cup (MVP) * 2010

* 2010 WPA World Team Championship * 2010 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship * 2010 Euro Tour Costa Blanca Open * 2009

* 2008 Derby City Classic 14.1 Challenge * 2009 CSI US Bar Table 10-Ball Championship * 2009 EPBF Nations Cup (Team Britain) * 2008 Euro Tour Italy Open * 2008 WPA World Ten-ball Championship * 2007 International 8-ball Championship * 2006 BCA Grand Masters 8-ball

References

External links

Appleton's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Darren English pool players 1978 births Living people World champions in pool World Games gold medalists Competitors at the 2013 World Games WPA World Nine-ball Champions WPA World Ten-ball Champions