Session 1 report - Champion Caminsky struggles
SESSION 1 - SATURDAY AFTERNOON RESULTS
Group 1 - Guy Caminsky 0-2 Dom Barrett (226-236), (182-243)
Group 1 - Osku Palermaa 1-1 Paeng Nepomuceno (248-256), (267-196)
Group 2 - Jason Belmonte 2-0 Chris Barnes (268-227), 258-257
Group 2 - Wu Siu Hong 1-1 Matt Chamberlain (238-279), (276-228)
DEFENDING Champion Guy Caminsky made a terrible start to his 2009 campaign at the PartyPoker.com World Tenpin Masters.
Caminsky lost 2-0 to England's Dom Barrett in the opening match of the competition at the Barnsley Metrodome.
"I'm pretty pleased with that," said Barrett. "The lane changed a lot faster than expected but I felt like I stayed with it. We didn't expect the lane transition to change that fast but luckily I made the right decision to change my ball and keep myself in it.
"It's very important to start with a win and if you don't win your first match then you are under a lot of pressure. It's a completely different format to what it was before. Obviously you want to win every match and it was a great start.
"I'm just going to go through each match and the final is where everyone wants to be."
Caminksy added: "I'm obviously disappointed and I'm not very happy with that after all the hype and all the build-up but that's bowling. The lane changed and that spare cost me the first game but in the second I didn't know where to go.
"But the new format gives people a chance and now I have to be perfect. I have to go back and think about what I can do differently. I have Osku (Palermaa) next and I have to go 2-0 and that's not an easy task."
In the other matches in the opening session, teenage debutant Matt Chamberlain nearly recorded a perfect 300 game in his match with Wu Siu Hong but after nine successive strikes Chamberlain left the ten-pin standing.
"It would've been nice to get the 300 in the first game of my debut but it wasn't to be," said Chamberlain. "In the second game I struggled, made a ball change in the last frame and that looked good.
"I'm quite a confident person so against Jason Belmonte and Chris Barnes I'm not going to just make up the numbers. I'm still trying to make the semi-finals and then the final."
Belmonte and Barnes, Masters winners in 2007 and 2006 respectively, produced an epic contest, which Belmonte edged in the last frame of both games.
Belmonte admitted his memory of last year's event where he suffered a shock first round exit had spurred him on to perform better this year.
"That meant a lot to me as I knew I had to bowl really good against Chris as he is the best bowler in the world," said Belmonte.
"I was really happy, especially with that last shot. I had to strike to win and that's how you want to win - to throw a strike.
"I'm extremely determined to do well this year after losing in the first round last year. Everyone has a target on their head and I'm after that.
"After the first round last year I was very disappointed and very upset. I'd flown all this way for two games.
"But now I'm more aggressive and not letting anything get to me and am trying to beat my opponent in my head before I start.
"It was a 30-hour flight and it was an awful flight as I had 30 hours to think about it. The good thing is you learn from it and take something from it."
The other match was between Osku Palermaa, the 2008 European Weber Cup captain, and Filipino legend Paeng Nepomuceno. Both players claimed a point with Nepomuceno clinching the first 256-248 and Palermaa winning the second 267-196.
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