Stephen Fahy closed out what might prove to be his last Commonwealth Games on a high yesterday, reaching the `B' final in a fiercely competitive 200 metres individual medley.

It was, as might have been expected from the Island's premier swimmer, the most impressive performance from the Bermuda swim team this week and the ideal way to sign off.

But after posting a time of two minutes, 9.78 seconds, just eight hundredths of a second outside his personal best, to place sixth in the final some two seconds behind English winner Brett Lummis, the 20-year-old Yale student wasn't entirely happy.

"Actually, I wanted to go a bit faster than that,'' he said. "I haven't really had that good a meet -- not what I came here to do. To be honest I'm a little disappointed.'' Having qualified comfortably in the morning heats with a 2:10.68 clocking, Fahy quickly set about lowering that time with a blistering start in the final as he made the first turn in second place with a butterfly leg of 26.9.

But he slipped to fourth after the backstroke, was back in fifth after the breaststroke before being pipped by Scotland's Paul Latimer in the freestyle sprint for the line.

"My breaststroke is weak and I knew I had to get out fast in order to stay in touch,'' added Fahy.

"I badly wanted to make this B final tonight. I missed out in the fly (100m butterfly) by about six hundredths of a second, so I was determined to make this one.

"My goal is to improve every time I come to a meet like this. I've been swimming a lot better than I ever have this summer so I expected to do well here. I thought I could get at least a PB.'' A talented all-round sportsman who played for the schoolboy soccer All-Stars and won the Front Street schoolboy mile before leaving Saltus, Fahy says he'll continue training for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

But there's no guarantee he'll still be competitive come the next Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.

"I've got two more years left at college, and really a lot depends on what I do after that,'' he explained.

Fahy's final brought to a close the swimmers' participation in these Games and they can now rest up with the cyclists, gymnasts and bowlers, whose programmes are also complete.

But squash pair Nick Kyme and Tommy Sherratt still have business to attend to as they take on Zambia today in the last of their men's doubles round robin, hopeful of finishing third.

The youngsters were no match for the seeded Australians and New Zealanders yesterday although they put up a terrific fight, particularly against fifth ranked Aussies David Palmer and Paul Price.

Palmer and Price won the first game 15-6 but were stretched in the second before running out 15-10 winners.

Against the ninth-ranked Kiwis, Paul Steel and Daniel Sharplin, who are considered doubles specialists and didn't even enter the singles, the Bermuda pair started strongly in both games, holding their opponents at 4-4 each time before letting it slip.

"We made too many mistakes,'' confessed Kyme. "Basically in doubles, all the points are won on tins or out.'' The format varies from singles in that matches are best of three, not five, are first to 15 points and not nine, and points can be won on an opponent's serve.

"I play a lot of `hard ball' doubles which is slightly different,'' said Sherratt, "but Nick and I haven't played much together.

"Against Australia we were very nervous. But we did quite well and that gave us a bit more confidence for the second match.'' Asked whether he felt he and Kyme had gelled as a team, Sherratt laughed: "I'm not sure about that. I think we're probably sick of the sight of each other.'' Today's match against a tough Zambian duo will decide third place as neither team can now advance to the quarter-finals. Lazarous Chilufya and Patrick Chifunda also lost to the Aussies and Kiwis yesterday but took Steel and Sharplin to three games (5-15, 17-14, 6-15) and also tested Palmer and Price before going down 5-15, 12-15.

"I'm confident we can beat them, but it's going to be a close match,'' admitted Kyme. "It's one that could go either way.'' Meanwhile, Bermuda's fullbore rifle shooters experienced mixed fortunes in the second stage of their event at the Langwaki range yesterday.

Sinclair Raynor, who had entered the day 26th in a field of 44 slipped to 31st, adding 141 to his overnight total for a 241 score. But team-mate Walter Trott climbed one place to 40th after shooting 135 for a 227 total.

GOLDEN GIRL -- Australia's Susan O'Neill on her way to winning the 200m butterfly yesterday, a feat which gave her a record ten gold medals in three Commonwealth Games appearances. (More Games action, Page 35) CYCLING CYC BOWLING BOW