It's all about belief for Raymond van Barneveld at the 2012 Ladbrokes World Championship.
Barney has nobody to fear at Ally Pally
It's all about belief for Raymond van Barneveld at the 2012 Ladbrokes World Championship.
The five-time world champion has slid down the PDC rankings this year and exited the Grand Slam in November without a win from three group games, before defeat to Scott Rand in the second round of last week's Players Championship.
Barney remains confident as he heads for Ally Pally and reckons there is nobody who can stop him - as long as he takes heed of advice his Grandma used to give him and doesn't worry about the "puppets".
"The World Championship means everything to me," he told
Sportinglife.com.
"I know I have a tough draw as I could face Brendan Dolan, Paul Nicholson and then maybe Phil Taylor but if you believe in yourself you can achieve anything.
"My Grandma used to say that all the time. Last year Phil lost to Mark Webster in the quarters so why can't he lose to Raymond van Barneveld?
"I can handle the pressure. If you look back at the last five or six years I always do well at the worlds.
"I know I'm going to do well this year but I have to put a lot of work in and I'm not afraid of that.
"I can't look at names any more. For me they are just puppets and I just focus on myself.
"My worst enemy is myself. If I don't defeat myself I know I can beat them all."
Worst enemy
A change of darts to the set-up that helped him beat Taylor in the 2007 World Championship final has given van Barneveld more confidence and he has explained just what a difference they make to his game.
"For years I was changing my set-up but from a week or two ago I decided to play with these.
"Last week I won two big exhibition tournaments so I knew I could play on the big level with them.
"It's a Shark dart that Unicorn have built for me. Because it has a slim flight the darts go in so fantastic straight away.
"If you throw with bigger flights and the first two go in or above (the treble 20) you have a problem with getting the third in.
"But with these slim flights you always have the option to see the treble 20 and the last one can go in easy."
The Dutchman still suffers with diabetes and that is a major worry ahead of his first-round clash against James Richardson.
"With the diabetes it's still not right. You have to eat properly every one-and-a-half hours.
"People don't understand what diabetics does with you. You can eat properly and then you go on stage and suddenly from nowhere you will have freezing cold hands.
"Food, my body and the fitness and stamina is really important to me. If that is right and I feel comfortable you can achieve anything."
