Filipino Dennis Orcollo is the world’s top-earning billiards player according to the latest rankings released by the World Pool Billiards Association (WPA).
The top player of Perry Mariano’s Bugsy Promotions has a running total of $81,740 boosted by his $10,000 prize for reaching the semifinals of the 2011 World Pool-Billiards Association (WPA) World 9-Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar over the weekend.
Orcollo, a former fisherman from Bislig, Surigao del Sur, is also the world’s No. 1 player with a WPA ranking of 2,510 points despite failing to win the World 9-Ball crown.
Fondly called “Robocop,” Orcollo, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games 9-ball gold medallist gained 640 points after reaching the final four of the World 9-Ball event.
Japanese Yukio Akagariyama who beat Filipino bet Ronato Alcano in the 9-ball finals jumped from 13th to second place with 2,100 points. Alcano slipped from second to third. He earned 800 points for reaching the finals.
Negros Billiards Stable’s Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza remained at eighth place with 1,501 points while Antonio “Nikoy” Lining also from the Negros Billiards Stable dropped from third to 10th with 1,395 points.
Another Bugsy stalwart Carlo “Cool” Biado improved from 26th to 14th with 1,304 points after reaching the Round of 32 while Venancio “Tukao” Tanio, who reached the quarterfinals, climbed from 45th to 29th with 908 points.
Francisco “Django” Bustamante, last year’s World 9-Ball titlist, dropped from 9th to 38th with 760 points after being eliminated by Orcollo in the Round of 16.
Former Women’s World 10-Ball winner Rubilen “Bingkay” Amit collected 964 points good for 10th place in the distaff rankings topped by Fu Xiao-fang of China with 1,750 points.