NEW DELHI: What was promised to be a mega event, starring all the current India players as part of the Asia XI to take on the World XI in a series of one-day games in the US and Canada in the first week of August, has turned out to be a low-profile affair, if not a non-starter. The BCCI has refused permission to the current India players to participate in `masala' matches. ``The BCCI and ICC are trying to sabatoge our efforts,'' a spokesman said today.

Instead, a host of former India players, including Navjot Sidhu, Maninder Singh, Rajesh Chauhan, Vijay Yadav and Atul Wassan, will play for Asia XI.Sachin lets it pass NEW DELHI: Skipper Sachin Tendulkar deftly side-stepped a question on reports that he did not want Mohammad Azharuddin to be a member of the Indian cricket team. ``Let's better leave them as rumours. Let's stick to reality,'' he replied in an interview to Star News last night.

Kirtanes lose final

PUNE: Kirtane cousins, Nitin and Sandeep ofIndia lost in the doubles final of first leg of Egypt Futures, going down to the Australian pair of Glen Knox and Darren Curral 7-6, 2-6, 5-7, according to reports reaching here. The duo from Pune had defeated A Youzni (Russai) and Timur G (Uzbekistan) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the semi-finals, on Thursday. The cousins earned 12 points for their effort.

Athletes shine

CHENNAI: A four-member Indian athletics squad bagged five gold in as many events in the 77th Sri Lankan National Championship. Anju Marcose, long jumper from Customs, set a personal best of 6.32 metres, one centimetre below the National best of Lekha Thomas.

Long distance runner Shankar recorded a double winning both the 5,000 and 10,000m, while P Ramachandran clocked 21.78s for the 200m gold. C Latha of Excise, making her international debut, won the 800m gold.

Indians beaten

MUMBAI: Indian girls, ranked 19th in the team events, went down 0-3 to Germany in their opening Pool C match in the Tenth World Junior Squash Championshipat Antwerp. Nicole Fries, the No 1 German player, gave her team a 1-0 lead beating India No 1 Pia Abraham 9-4, 9-2, 9-1. Simone Leifels increased the margin with a 9-6, 9-0, 9-3 win over Deepali Anvekar while Kathrin Rohrmuller completed the rout when she crushed Vaidehi Reddy 9-1, 9-6, 9-2.

Baljit to miss tour

NEW DELHI: The Indian hockey team for the coming tour of South Africa suffered a big jolt today when star striker Baljit Singh Dhillon was ruled out of the squad due to leg injury.

Dhillon was the second highest scorer for the team at the Bangkok Asian Games where India won the gold after 32 years.

The substitute for Dhillon will be announced after chief coach Vasudevan Bhaskran discusses the issue with IHF president KPS Gill

-- ENS & Agencies