the national aquatic centre here yesterday, but coach Gareth Davies conceded he still was not altogether happy with his young team's overall performance.

"There have been some good swims, especially from Stephen, but I think we're all a little disappointed,'' said Davies, a veteran of five Commonwealth Games. "We were hoping we'd make a lot of consolation finals. We worked very hard coming into these Games and I think we were hoping for a little better.'' On the heels of his national record in Saturday's 200 metres freestyle, Troake again shone in yesterday's 100 free, making the most of his rivalry with team-mate Stephen Fahy after the pair were placed in adjacent lanes following a late heat change.

Fahy came out narrowly ahead, placing third in 53.58 seconds which was just one-tenth of a second outside his previous best while Troake clocked 54.55, clipping 33 hundredths off his PB.

Earlier, Matthew Hammond was timed in 55.2 to take second place in the second heat, but none of the Bermudians advanced to the evening finals which predictably were filled by the all-conquering Australians and Canadians.

And in the first race of the day, Alicia Mullan went some way to making amends for her disappointing swim in Saturday's 400m individual medley when she placed sixth in her 400m freestyle heat in 4:49.92, only two seconds outside her best. She then marginally improved on that in the evening's consolation final for which she automatically qualified, placing fifth in 4:49.38.

"Alicia was very disappointed with her 400 IM which is her strongest event.

She doesn't know what happened,'' said Davies. "But today she was much more aggressive and enjoyed a much better race.

"It was the same with Matt (Hammond) in the 200 free. He was at 1:27 at 150 metres and set for a 1:57 or 1:58 and I've never in my life seen him die like that. He just faded in the last 50 metres (finishng in 2:00.31).

"But Stephen (Troake) was great. He swam 2:04 at the Worlds in January and then set a new national record (2:00.12) here.'' Still to look forward to are today's 4x100 freestyle relay and Fahy's favourite, the 200 IM on Thursday. Hammond also goes in today's 400 free while he, Troake and Fahy tackle Wednesday's 50 free. Mullan's final event is Wednesday's 200 IM.

Davies admitted the boys were geed up for the relay which will also feature Trevor Ferguson.

"The thing is there is no pressure on them,'' said the coach. "There's no individual focus. They can just let it go. And I think if we swim to our potential we can make the final, but we've got to swim well.'' Thirteen teams line up for the relay with Bermuda boasting a time of 3:38:78, eighth fastest among the entries.

Elsewhere, squash player Nick Kyme enjoyed his first victory at these Games, in the singles consolation plate, before bowing out in the second round, but team-mate Tommy Sherratt again fell at the first hurdle.

Kyme looked to be cruising over Guyana's Regan Pollard, taking the first two games 9-3, 9-6, but lost the next two 6-9, 4-9 and had to rally in the fifth to win 9-7.

However, he was outplayed in the second round against Papua New Guinea's Derek Hunter, a resident of Australia, falling in straight games 9-2, 9-2, 9-0.

Sherratt lost his plate opener against Guernsey's Nigel Blackburn 9-7, 9-5, 9-7.

The two Bermudians will be back on court for the men's doubles on Thursday when they face Australia, New Zealand and Zambia in round-robin play.

In shooting all four Bermuda competitors were on the Langwaki range yesterday, showing considerable improvement on their performance at Victoria four years ago.

In the Men's Pairs fullbore rifle prone, Carl Reid and Nelson Simons combined for a score of 1,140 to place 16th in the field of 23. Reid fired 568 and Simons 572 as gold went to South Africa with a 1,189 total.

Sinclair Raynor and Walter Trott then finished 18th from an entry of 23 in the Open Pairs fullbore rifle with a score of 527. Raynor recorded 270 and Trott 257.

Northern Ireland took gold with a score of 595.

SWIMMING SW