asketball star Kobe Bryant will go forward with a preliminary hearing into charges that he raped a 19-year-old woman, a Colorado court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The announcement came amid speculation that Bryant would skip the hearing, a move that would spare him public airing of potentially damaging evidence and allow both sides to proceed to a trial sometime next year.

"The preliminary hearing will go forward this afternoon for Mr Bryant, Eagle County Court spokeswoman Kim Andree said.

Bryant, dressed in a dark suit, walked into the courthouse in this small Colorado mountain town with his two attorneys, but did not speak to reporters. One bystander yelled "Go Kobe!" The 25-year-old Los Angeles Laker left his team's training camp in Hawaii for the court date.

Bryant's defense team could have waived the hearing to keep potentially damaging evidence from being aired in public before the trial.

Eagle County prosecutor Mark Hurlbert has said he plans to show photos of injuries Bryant's accuser said she sustained during a rape on June 30 and put on the stand a police detective who interviewed her.

Judge Frederick Gannett denied a request by the defense team of Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey to question the young woman, a college student who worked as a concierge at the Colorado resort where Bryant was staying after knee surgery.

Bryant has denied he raped the woman and characterized the June 30 encounter as consensual sex. He is free on a $25,000 bond.

In a preliminary hearing, a prosecutor has only to present enough evidence to show a probable cause that a defendant committed a crime, a much lower standard than for trials, in which a jury must be convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Television satellite dishes were set up and dozens of reporters have flocked to this town of 3,000, ready for what could be a short hearing.

Security was also tight and special passes were needed for the courtroom.

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