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At least three of Bermuda's top athletes are facing Commonwealth Games heartbreak amid a rules controversy, which could see them cut from the sports festival.

Under the new regulations 'expats', like South African tri-athlete Evan Naude, British tri-athlete Jiemi Brown and British cyclist Lynne Patchett, are not eligible to represent Bermuda. The change may also affect other athletes, such as Naude's twin brother Riaan, who is still vying to make the team.

But the island's sporting chiefs are hoping, a loophole in the law will allow them to take part, anyway.

The Bermuda Olympic Association is awaiting a decision on an appeal brought by the Cayman Islands, which has five guest workers in its team for Melbourne 2006.

Previously athletes simply had to have lived in Bermuda for two years and been a native of a Commonwealth country to represent the country at the Commonwealth Games.

But the new rules, introduced along with a raft of changes after Manchester 2002, state that nationality is a must for all competitors.

Countries like Cayman and Bermuda have been disproportionately affected by the changes because of their high expat populations.

However there is a 'get-out clause' which gives the Executive Board of the Commonwealth Games Federation the power to waive that ruling "in any case for good reason or if the circumstances warrant."

BOA president John Hoskins is one of about a dozen members of the executive and will have a say in the Cayman appeal, which will serve as a test case for nations, like Bermuda.

He said it would come down to a vote of the members - himself included.

Evan Naude, who won the Bank of Bermuda Triathlon and represented Bermuda in the World Age Group championships in Hawaii, said he knew nothing of the behind-the-scenes rules row that had put his place in jeopardy.

He added: "Competing at the Games in March would definitely be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I've been training hard for this so I hope it doesn't all come to nothing."

Hoskins said it would depend on how inclusive the board wanted to be and how it interpreted the rules.

He said athletes with British citizenship could potentially be considered as eligible, because Bermuda was a British overseas territory.

He admitted the case of the South African Naude twins was more complicated.

But he insisted there was still a chance they could compete for Bermuda - but it would all depend on the ruling in the Cayman case.

It is understood that one option for the Executive Board would be to forego the ruling completely for next year's games in order for the full implications to be considered in time for the 2010 games.

Hoskins said the new eligibility rules had been approved along with a whole raft of constitutional changes and had, perhaps, not been given the consideration they deserved.

He said the complications had not been properly anticipated or understood until the games was upon us.

"It's not really been a problem until we got nearer to the games and all these red flags started popping up."

He added that now the implications of the rule-change had been seen, it was possible that the Commonwealth Games organizers would decide to go back to the old system for future games.

He said he could not go into detail about what his submissions to the Executive Committee would be, but it is understood he will lobby for the rule-change to be ditched.[[In-content Ad]]

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