Sailing: Challengers face further disruption

Sloppy boat handling cost the South Africans a shock win over BMW Oracle yesterday as one of two sets of races in the Louis Vuitton knock-out series for the America's Cup was completed. That makes three in seven days.

A broken spinnaker pole contributed to Spain losing to the French team Areva, Team New Zealand steadied a ship rocked by Mascalzone Latino and another Italian team, Luna Rossa, took a third win in a row.

The organisers' stranglehold over the challengers - who used to control their own elimination series - was demonstrated yesterday by Michel Bonnefous, chief executive of America's Cup Management, which was set up bythe Swiss defender, Ernesto Bertarelli.

The challengers cannot have an extra reserve day, so the two rounds of races will be run without a break, a major setback to development programmes.

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