Team New Zealand joined the legal battle for the America's Cup yesterday, suing Swiss holders Alinghi for delaying the next regatta and for stifling competition for sailing's most coveted prize.

The America's Cup has been mired in court for months since US team BMW Oracle claimed Alinghi set unfair rules for the next Cup with an illegitimate challenger.

The New York Supreme Court ruled in favour of BMW Oracle and Alinghi has appealed.

Team New Zealand, who lost last year's America's Cup to Alinghi in a thrilling 5-2 series in Valencia, laid the same charges at the Swiss team's door, saying the rules were "completely one-sided".

"They abused their competitive power to stifle other teams," managing director Grant Dalton told Reuters.

Alinghi said they had not received official papers from Team New Zealand and would not comment until their lawyers had looked at the case.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.