Foto copyright SubZeroImages/WMRT
Minoprio Stokes Up Pressure On Richard For WMRT Title
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, 29 November 2010
Defending World Match Racing Tour Champion (WMRT), Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing has cranked up the pressure on Championship leader Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, claiming that the Frenchman’s confidence is likely to be low ahead of the Tour’s showdown at the Monsoon Cup this week.
Minoprio, who won the Tour’s finale in Malaysia last year to snatch the ISAF Match Racing World Championship, believes Richard’s loss in the Sunseeker Australia Cup in Perth last week could have a negative effect ahead of this week’s crucial championship deciding regatta.
Minoprio, who was unable to compete in the Australia Cup himself said, “It was interesting to see the results from Perth. Last year we beat Richard 3-2 in the quarter finals and it seemed to upset him for the Monsoon Cup. I doubt he’s too happy at the fact he lost again this year at the same stage to another young Kiwi team.”
Richard though can point to the fact that he performed better at the Australia Cup against eventual winner Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing than any of his other Championship rivals. Richard went down fighting against Robertson with a 3-2 loss while the Kiwi swept aside Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 3-1 in the semis and two-time Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 3-0 in the final.
To read Minoprio and Peter Gilmour’s thoughts on how Richard will cope visit www.wmrt.com
