Barrett confident of more Weber Cup glory - 11/11/2010

DOMINIC Barrett is confident Europe can repeat their success of last year and clinch the PartyCasino.com Weber Cup.

Europe defeated America 17-11 in 2009 and Barrett believes his side will again be victorious in the three-day event, which begins on Friday, November 12 at the Barnsley Metrodome.

“The Americans will definitely want revenge after last year, but we have a strong team so we’re feeling confident,” said Barrett.

“We were the underdogs last year and, while we may not be clear favourites, we’re certainly not big underdogs now.

“We aren’t as animated as the Americans and their team is full of top players. But we are younger and full of confidence.

“We’ve prepared well and know what we need to do. We don’t want to be complacent but looking at their team, which we beat last year, and it’s still unchanged, then we’re confident.”

This year’s PartyCasino.com Weber Cup pits the best four American bowlers against the best four from Europe in a series of singles, doubles and baker matches where all players from both sides take part.

Each match is filmed for television and will be broadcast on Sky Sports early in 2011. All the action takes place on Matchroom’s unique purpose-built single lane with a packed crowd of 500 people per session set to enjoy the biggest team event in tenpin bowling.

The European side consists of the English duo of Barrett and Paul Moor, along with the Finnish pair of Osku Palermaa and Mika Koivuniemi, while USA are represented by PBA stars Chris Barnes, Pete Weber, Tommy Jones and Tim Mack.
This is the 11th staging of the competition with USA winning six times and Europe triumphing on four occasions.

However, Barrett believes the European line-up is playing well and will continue that form into the weekend.

He added: “We had the momentum last year. We hit a bit of confidence and after that we won a few matches and then just went on a roll.

“Before we knew it we had a big lead and had given ourselves a great chance of winning. This year we will be looking to do exactly the same and win a few games early on and start well.

“The mid session is really key and the team who does well there manages to have a very good lead into the final session.

“Osku has done well in the States and just won his first professional title, I’ve upped my game and am leading the European rankings, Mika has always been the backbone of the team and he’s been bowling well and Paul has found his form at the right time.

“The Weber Cup is definitely the biggest stage we play on.
“Throughout the year this is the time together where we play as a team. To win it means a lot to all of us individually and collectively to say you’re the best continent.”