Melbourne Games to open against backdrop of scandal

The 18th Commonwealth Games open in Melbourne today with organisers anxiously hoping weeks of negative publicity and embarrassing blunders will be washed away once the competition gets underway.

A decade of meticulous planning and more than A$1.1 billion (US$827 million) has been spent preparing Australia's second-largest city for the 12-day event, only for the final countdown to be overshadowed by scandal.

On the eve of today's opening ceremony, Australian police charged a member of India's support staff with indecently assaulting a teenage girl at the official athletes village.

The man was released on bail and ordered to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court today. His passport was confiscated by police and he was kicked out of the village by the Indian team.

The scandal unfolded as organisers predicted an estimated global television audience of 1.1 billion people would watch Queen Elizabeth II officially open the Games at a gala ceremony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The competition will get underway tomorrow with more than from 4,500 athletes from 53 countries competing in 16 different sports over the next 11 days.

"This will be the most fantastic Commonwealth Games we anticipate anyone has ever seen," Commonwealth Games Minister Justin Madden told a news conference yesterday.

"The city is absolutely bursting with excitement."

But while the organisers are talking up the Games, the reality is they have failed to capture the imagination of the public six years after the Olympics.

Australians have always held a deep affection for the Commonwealth Games but critics dismiss them as little more than an imperial anachronism that has no place in the 21st century.

Organisers have been putting on a brave face but still haven't been able to prevent the Games lurching from one public relations disaster to the next.

Although more than 1 million tickets have been sold, another 400,000 have yet to be taken up.

The prospects of a late rush on seats are fading after the withdrawal of many star attractions including Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and English long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe.

Organisers were also forced to fend off questions about their security arrangements after four teenage prisoners escaped from a juvenile detention facility near the Games village yesterday.

Australia have topped the medals count at each of the past four Commonwealth Games since 1990 and have set their sights on bettering their record haul of 202 medals from Manchester four years ago.

They boast a talented women's swim team packed with world and Olympic champions and have strength and depth in almost every sport.

But the brightest star of the games could well be Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell.

The fastest man in history has never won a major international title and finished a disappointing fifth at the Athens Olympics but has promised to set Melbourne alight by attacking his world record of 9.77.

The Commonwealth Games brings together an unusual assortment of countries from around the globe, from the world's biggest democracy India to tiny pacific islands like Niue and Nauru.

The programme also includes sports such as lawn bowls, netball and squash, representing the eclectic range of countries' interests in the Commonwealth, although the deep sense of rivalry is the same no matter what the sport.

Malta's flag-bearer in today's opening ceremony will be Double Trap shooter William Chetcuti. He was a bronze medal winner in Manchester 2002.