KEY POINTS:
Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth has quashed speculation he is about the leave the America's Cup holders.
Reports in the last week have suggested Butterworth was moving to either Oracle or Team New Zealand, but Butterworth says those reports are rubbish. He says he can not believe such things would be written because they are just lies.
The legal battle over the rules of the 33rd America's Cup has been extended into January. A New York court, which last month ruled in favour of US syndicate Oracle in its case against Swiss defender Alinghi, will hold a session on January 14 to finalise the text of its ruling.
While the court will not alter its ruling that Alinghi should declare Oracle as its Challenger of Record, it may set the date for the 33rd America's Cup.
The event had been scheduled for 2009 in Valencia, Spain, but organisers last month postponed it indefinitely because of the legal row between Oracle and Alinghi. Most observers believe the event will be staged as one-on-one catamaran race in 2008 with a more conventional regatta involving a full set of challengers in 2011.
- NEWSTALK ZB