MADRID (AFP) -- Britain's Team Origin said Friday that its status as an official challenger in the 33rd America's Cup could be in doubt after the postponement of the sailing race originally scheduled for 2009 in Spain.

AC Management, the organizing body of the 33rd America's Cup, gave no new date for the event when it announced Thursday that the race would be postponed because of a legal dispute between Swiss defenders Alinghi and U.S. team Oracle.
In July San Francisco-based Oracle filed a lawsuit in a New York court accusing Alinghi of choosing an illegitimate team, Desafio Espanol, as its ""challenger of record"" and of setting rules for the next Cup which are unfairly weighted in the Swiss defender's favor.
If the court rules in Oracle's favor, Alinghi says it is willing to accept a race using catamarans as proposed by the U.S. team, in accordance with the ""deed of the gift"", the document which founded the event more than 150 years ago.
In a statement, the British team said that in this case ""the validity of the current protocol will cease and the status of Team Origin as a challenger for the 33rd America's Cup will also end"".
Team Origin, launched by British businessman Sir Keith Mills in January using his own money, ""will have to calculate the implications for the event and make its plans accordingly"", the statement added.
Mills, who helped London win the 2012 Olympics, on Thursday blamed Oracle's ""greed"" and Alinghi's ""belligerent spirit"" for the failure of both sides to settle their dispute.
""This is a really sad day for the America's Cup and a bad day for sport. Disputes like these should not be settled in court,"" he said.
""For one team to seek to impose its will on a sporting event by using a lawsuit is reprehensible. For another team to slow the process down is equally damning,"" he added.
Team Origin tried in vain over the past few weeks to convince Oracle and Alinghi to reach a compromise that would allow the race to go ahead as scheduled in 2009.
Talks between Alinghi and Oracle aimed at reaching an out-of-court settlement broke down Friday, after the Swiss side rejected a final compromise put forward by the US team which was backed by three of the seven challengers, including Team Origin.
""Last week we came to within a hair's breadth of a solution that should have been acceptable to both,"" said Team Origin's team director, Mike Sanderson.
""Unfortunately the tactics employed by the two have sometimes brought into question the willingness of both to want to find a solution at all,"" he added.