Ed Wright is convinced he can prove the sailing community wrong by beating Hampshire star Ben Ainslie to a place in Britain's Olympic team this weekend.

The general consensus, supported by several members of Skandia Team GBR, is that the race-off between the Finn class duo at the Sydney International Regatta is just delaying Ainslie's inevitable selection.

But Wright, currently ranked fifth in the world, says he has "nothing to be scared of" in the regatta which runs from tomorrow to Tuesday.

It is not a view shared by many of those who saw Ainslie win two Olympic gold medals - he also has a silver and a world title - and it is widely mocked by those who see beating Lymington-based Ainslie, arguably the best small boat sailor of his generation, as an equal feat to dethroning Tiger Woods or Roger Federer.

But Wright, who has been given a shot at the team because selectors fear Ainslie is giving too much time to the America's Cup, is not backing away from the challenge.

"Why should I?" he said. "I've proven myself to be among the very best in the class, I have the right to try and get in the team. Can I beat Ben? I reckon I can.

"The years he spent in the America's Cup, I spent racing the Finn. He has the talent and quality to come back in and do well with just a year of preparation (for the Olympics) but I've trained in this class since January 2005 and that's a big advantage to me.

"He won the Olympic test event a couple of months ago so he is obviously still very sharp in this boat, but I've spent nearly three years fine-tuning for this.

"I've got plenty of confidence for this event. It's not going to be easy getting in this team but, at the same time, it isn't meant to be; Team GBR is the most successful sailing team in the world."

Assuming the racing is close in Sydney, the duo will face off again at the Finn Gold Cup in January in Melbourne, and then possibly in Europe.

The winner will ultimately fill the 10th of 11 Team GBR berths at the Games - nine have already been selected - and Wright pointed to previous examples of favourites being overthrown to support his case.

"The selectors are not scared of making tough decision," he added.

"Shirley Robertson had two gold medals and they dropped her for Sarah (Ayton), and Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks were world champions and got dropped for Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes.

"This would be another huge decision, but they have said they will judge it from these races and not necessarily on history. When it comes to racing, I think I can beat anyone."

Some sailors have been sceptical of the race-off and suggested Ainslie would be selected even in the unlikely event of him losing in Sydney.

Team GBR member Iain Percy, who won the Finn gold in 2000, even described the process as "cosmetic", but GBR coach Stephen Park would not elaborate on what would determine selection.

He said: "We don't put all the information into the public domain. We will obviously consider how much time Ben gives to his other commitments and decide if that's conducive to him preparing thoroughly enough for the Olympics, and we will see how they do head-to-head in Sydney.

"How we make our decision after that won't be discussed publicly.

"Either way, we will have a world-class competitor in the Finn."