Thorpe makes stunning entrance, Kiwi bows out in disgrace

8.00am

MANCHESTER - Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe made a confident entrance to the Commonwealth Games at the start of a bid to make history on Tuesday but the exit of a New Zealand lawn bowler in disgrace caught the spotlight.

Thorpe, the highest-profile performer at the 17-sport Games, began his quest for a record seven gold medals by cruising into the final of the 400 metres freestyle due to be held later in the day.

But as the teenager was powering down the pool, New Zealand announced it had been forced to send home 60-year-old disabled bowler John Davies after an allegation of sexual harassment.

Davies, who is an amputee, was competing in the physically disabled triples event at the Games which bring together 72 nations from the group of mostly former British colonies.

Organisers said he had made a "serious error of judgment".

"We had a complaint yesterday (Monday) about inappropriate behaviour by one of our team members from a female volunteer," New Zealand team chief Dave Currie told reporters.

"We spoke to the organisers, we spoke to the volunteer, we investigated it with the other members of the team and, as a result of that, we have removed that athlete from the team."

The woman involved has indicated that she does not intend to press charges over the incident. Currie would not go into any more detail but he said Davies was on his way home.

"It was clearly an invasion of the space and privacy of the person involved," he said. "We are taking this very seriously. It is not something we do lightly. We apologise to the woman involved."

Asked if Davies had brought the team into disrepute Currie said: "He did".

The bowler said in the statement that he understood the New Zealand team management's decision.

"I fully regret my actions. I understand that what I did was silly and embarrassing. I would like to apologise to all concerned in this unfortunate incident," he said.

Thousands of volunteers play an important role in organising the Games by providing information to competitors and media and working in the areas of transport, security and results.

When Currie held a press conference about the incident today, other athletes in the team had not been told of the Davies incident or his expulsion. But there were some gloomy faces in the New Zealand camp when they learned that one of their team had been sent home in disgrace.

It took some gloss off excellent performances in the New Zealand team today.

Beatrice Faumuina, as expected, retained her Commonwealth Games discus title without having to extend herself.

Her winning throw of 60.83m was well below her best but still two metres more than her nearest rival.

Earlier Craig Barrett did not get the gold medal that was nearly within his grasp at Kuala Lumpur four years ago, when he collapsed with heat exhaustion, but he went a long way to erasing that memory with his silver medal performance in the 50km walk today.

He gave his all to beat Australian favourite Nathan Deakes but in the end could not match him for pace and settled for the silver medal.

Australian-turned-Kiwi squash player Carol Owens recovered from being a game down to win her semifinal against England's Cassie Jackman in four games.

Auckland-based Owens knows she'll have her work cut out to pull off an upset to beat Sarah Fitz-Gerald in tomorrow's final. But a silver for New Zealand to add to the bronze she won for Australia in Kuala Lumpur four years ago is something she will treasure.

Heavyweight boxer Shane Cameron assured himself of at least a bronze medal after outclassing and outblasting Jamaican Kerron Speid with a 42-23 points decision after the referee gave Speid three eight-counts during the quarterfinal bout.

With England's world championship silver medallist David Haye having withdrawn with a torn arm muscle, Cameron looked unstoppable for the gold medal on today's performance.

New Zealand men's hockey team finished their pool play on a high, hammering South Africa 5-2 to set up a favourable play-off against Canada for a semifinal spot.

Three hundred kilometres away at the Bisley shooting range, a second women's shooting combination picked up a medal for New Zealand.

Following the gold medal success of Teresa Borrell and Nadine Stanton in the double trap pairs on Sunday, Tania Corrigan and Jocelyn Lees picked up a bronze in the 25m pistol pairs.

But Borrell, favoured to win gold in the individual trap on recent form, missed out on today's final.

The opening day of action at the pool witnessed an historic moment when Sana Abdul Wahid became the first woman from Pakistan to swim for her nation outside a Muslim country.

Eighteen-year-old Wahid and 12-year-old Kiran Khan form the first Pakistan swimming team to compete in the Games.

Wahid finished third of four in the opening heat of the 50 metres butterfly in 33.53 seconds, making her 26th out of 27.

Swimming has only recently been considered a sport in Pakistan and the nation of 140 million has only two Olympic-size 50m pools, neither of which is available for training.

Initially the swimmers had to observe the strictest of Islamic codes, which meant that only women could officiate at their competitions and no men were allowed as spectators.

They competed at two Islamic Women's Games in Iran, the only place where the rules were observed strictly enough to permit it.

"I am very proud. It was very good to be able to swim with so many experienced swimmers," said Wahid who has more events to swim in Manchester but one big ambition.

"I would like to meet Ian Thorpe while I am here," she said.

- REUTERS

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