America's Cup: Finalists generate some verbal squalls

International Herald Tribune - by Christopher Clarey from Valencia, Spain.

An edgy America's Cup grew edgier when Alinghi's president, Ernesto Bertarelli, expressed disappointment with the opposition's plans for yachting's biggest event and suggested that they were ungrateful for the financial support he had provided when they were struggling to create a syndicate.

Alinghi will defend the Cup against Emirates Team New Zealand in the best-of-nine series that begins here June 23. Many New Zealanders view it as a grudge match, but Bertarelli, the smooth Swiss billionaire, sees it through a different lens.

He sees it as the climax of the competition he and his deputies have reshaped into a more profitable and modern event with a more global approach, and he is upset that Team New Zealand's leader, Grant Dalton, has publicly stated his intention to reinstate some form of the nationality rule if the Kiwis win back the Cup. >more