March 16, 2006	Thursday	Safar 15, 1427

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MELBOURNE, March 15: The 18th Commonwealth Games were opened by Queen Elizabeth here on Wednesday in a spectacular ceremony while in the national capital of Canberra, 600km away, performance enhancing drugs were found at the prestigious Australian Institute of Sport.

A global audience of 1.5 billion people tuned in to see the queen declare the showpiece 12-day event open at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which was packed with 80,000 spectators.

Thousands of others, unwilling or unable to pay up to 590 Australian dollars (435 US dollars) to enter the MCG, watched part of the ceremony acted out on the Yarra River which cuts through the city.

But the smiles here were matched by scowls of officials in Canberra after it was revealed that syringes and vials, possibly containing performance enhancing drugs, had been found at the sport institute .

An Australian Sports Commission (ASC) spokesman said the material was discovered in a room by a cleaner at the Canberra campus on Tuesday.

“Some matter has been found but we don’t know what the matter is,” said the spokesman. “We have sent it for testing.”

The results of the tests are expected on Thursday.

The AIS is frequently used by countries and overseas teams to prepare for events such as the Commonwealth Games.

A source said the substance found was likely linked to a residential camp of weightlifters who used the AIS to prepare for the Games.

At the MCG, meanwhile, the queen received the Queen’s baton, which had travelled over 180,000km and visited all 71 competing nations, from Australian running legend and Governor of Victoria John Landy.

It had been passed along the Yarra, brought into the ground by Sydney Olympic gold medallist Cathy Freeman and carried by Ron Clarke, Marjorie Jackson Nelson before being finally handed to Landy.

Singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa then performed “Happy Birthday” in honour of the monarch impending 80th birthday in April, including a snippet of “God Save the Queen” in the rendition.

Earlier Wednesday, hundreds of Aboriginal protesters had heckled the queen when she attended a reception ahead of the opening ceremony.

Chanting “land rights now” and “we still own the land” the demonstrators called on her to sign a treaty recognising the injustices suffered by indigenous people under British colonial rule.

The Games has also found itself embroiled in a sex scandal with a massage therapist on the Indian team appearing in court charged with indecent assault on a 16-year-old cleaner at the Games village.

The 35-year-old was bailed to reappear at court on Friday.

More than 225 million Australian dollars has been spent on security for the Games, and this was put to the test when four youths scaled a fence and penetrated the Games village Tuesday.

Victoria state Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said they were caught within one minute of getting into the village which showed that security worked.

“We were aware of them as soon as they came close to the fence and we had them in custody in less than a minute,” she said.

One of Australia’s largest ever security operations is in place with some 2,500 heavily armed military personnel and 13,000 police protecting venues and participants.—AFP