India ready to shoot its way to top

Melbourne: Asian nations fine-tuned their Commonwealth Games preparations Tuesday with mixed fortunes for giant India which won a shooting warm-up event but was also embroiled in a sex scandal.

India's Pemba Tamang won the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol badge match -- a traditonal warm-up competition.

His teammate Vijay Kumar was second, ahead of Australia's Bruce Favell.

However, India's top pistol marksman Samresh Jung, who won two golds and three silvers in the 2002 Games in Manchester, was edged in the 10m Air Pistol badge by England's Michael Gault, who already has 11 Commonwealth medals.

In an unexpected boost for Asia, Singapore's Poh Lip-meng took third in the 10m event.

Poh, who has no record to speak of, was not fancied for a medal ahead of the competition, with Singapore pinning its hopes for gold on Li Jia-wei in table tennis and possible successes in badminton and gymnastics.

Singapore's Zhao Huijing gave the city-state another shot in the arm on Monday when she won the women's 10m air pistol ahead of India's Harveem Srao.

India and Australia are expected to corner most of the 40 shooting gold medals on offer.

In Manchester, India won 14 golds, seven silvers and three bronze medals and hope to better that feat in Melbourne.

But India's preparations were overshadowed by a sex scandal involving a massage therapist for the 255-strong team, who has had his passport confiscated by Australian police.

The 28-year-old is at the centre of an investigation after a 16-year-old cleaner was allegedly sexually assaulted in the Games Village.

"The Indian delegation is assisting and co-operating with the police to get to the truth of the matter," the Indian contingent's general manager Gurbir Singh said.

He said the man, who has not been named, denied any wrongdoing.

Away from this, Malaysian and Singaporean shuttlers took to the badminton courts at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre ahead of the competition starting on Thursday as their training regimes intensified.

Malaysia, Singapore and England are expected to dominate the competition.

Malaysia won nine badminton medals at the last Games but are without defending men's singles champion Hashim Muhammad following his first round exit from the recent All-England competition in Birmingham.

Singapore has said it is aiming for at least six gold medals altogether in Melbourne, while Malaysia is targeting 10. India wants to beat the 30 it won in Manchester.

Pakistan are looking at medals in the hockey, weightlifting and pistol shooting, but attention in Melbourne has focused on Rubab Raza and Kiran Khan, two teenagers in the swimming competition.

When they were born, competitive swimming was illegal in Pakistan where costumes were considered un-Islamic.

It is now legal but they will dive into the pool in knee-length outfits and don't expect any medals.

Their plight though has caught the attention of the Australian media which praised them for "cresting a brave new wave".

Rubab, 15, will compete in the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke while Kiran 16, will swim the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and 100m backstroke.

Asia's other representatives at the Games are Bangladesh, Brunei, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

None have high hopes of being on the podium too often although Bangladesh has a history of doing well in the shooting.