The battle over the bug-infested swimming pool at the Asian Games intensified this week with new accusations by coaches that the water is also too cold. Squads of workers are trying each day to clear thousands of dead insects, attracted by the lights and water in the open air $38 million complex at Thammasat University, near Bangkok.

Now coaches have increased pressure on the Thailand Amateur Swimming Association with their complaints about the temperature. Only swimmers from Taiwan and United Arab Emirates have so far been brave enough to train in the pool. Thailand's head coach Samrerng Thosakul said the water was too cold for his swimmers to train in.

"It would be most unpleasant for the swimmers, especially the women," Major-General Kamol Saen-issara, said of the unwanted insects. The Major, who is secretary general of the Thailand Amateur Swimming Association, did not elaborate as to why women would be more seriously affected than men by the bugs. "For Thai men it might not be a serious problem, but I'm sure it would make the foreigners' hair stand on end," the Bangkok Post quoted him as saying. "The biggest problem comes in the evening when there is a plague of insects."

No doubt some record times are in order.