Lining, Django grab top spots in world rankings

Two Filipino billiards masters are occupying the top two spots in the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) rankings for May.

Antonio “Nickoy” Lining and Francisco “Django” Bustamante grabbed the No. 1 and 2 spots for their solid performances in the billiards table.

Lining, a member of the star-studded Negros Billiards Stable accumulated 1725 points for the top ranking. He earned 640 points in the 2010 WPA World 9-Ball, 300 points in the 2010 China Open, 270 points in the 2011 WPA World 8-ball, 325 points in the 2011 Philippine Open and 190 points at the recent 2011 Beijing Open.

Meanwhile, Bustamante took the No. 2 spot with 1432 points anchoring his rise by winning the 2010 WPA World 9-Ball title worth 1,000 points.

At third is Chang Jun-lin of Chinese-Taipei (1417), while Dennis “Robocop” Orcullo of the Philippines is at fourth with 1,410 points. Ranked fifth is Kuo Po-cheng of Chinese-Taipei (1,292.)

Rounding up to the top 10 were No. 6 Ronato “Volcano” Alcano of the Philippines (1,158), No. 7 Thorsten “The Hitman” Hohmann of Germany (1,085), No. 8 Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands (1,050), No. 9 David Alcaide of Spain (1,048) and No.10 Darren Appleton of Great Britain (982).

Other Filipinos who made it to the top 20 were No. 14 Oliver Medenilla (950), No. 15 Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza (946) and No.18 Efren “Bata” Reyes (827).

Chen Siming of China, meantime, grabbed the top ranking for women with 1,664 points. Filipina Rubilen “Bingkay” Amit is at No. 12 with 1,002 points