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NEW DELHI, Wednesday (Reuters) India's top players are likely to play in next month's World Cup despite a long-running unresolved sponsorship dispute, the Indian board said on Wednesday.

"As far as I am concerned the Indian team will play the World Cup and they are already in training," Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said on Wednesday.

The dispute, which has raged for at least six months, arises from the conflicting rights of official World Cup sponsors on the one hand and the Indian players' personal sponsors on the other. Dalmiya said the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's world governing body, had suggested putting the issue on ice until after the tournament to make sure India took part. The six-week event starts on February 9.

The ICC demands personal endorsements should be suspended around its tournaments while India's players, some of whom make more from advertisements than from playing, argue their image rights have been signed away without negotiation.

In March the Indian board accepted the World Cup sponsorship terms without consulting its players who then rebelled, threatening not to play. The board then blamed the ICC terms for being too restrictive. An ICC source told Reuters on Tuesday that the world governing body was ready to allow the Indian team to take part in the World Cup under amended contracts which would leave them free to continue personal endorsements.

If, however, official sponsors later sued for compensation, citing 'ambush marketing' the ICC would hold the Indian board responsible although it would be willing to go to arbitration to decide who should pay.

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