Chelsea's Drogba to miss start of season

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Sports news in brief from around the world:

Soccer - Forward Didier Drogba is set to miss Chelsea's first two games of the new Premier League season due to a knee injury, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was quoted as telling British media on Monday.

The Ivory Coast striker missed Chelsea's pre-season tour of Asia and the subsequent Railway Cup tournament in Moscow and he may not be fit to play before the London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Aug. 31.

"Didier will not play in our first game against Portsmouth and will probably miss the second against Wigan," Scolari was quoted as saying.

Cricket - Indian limited overs captain Mahendra Dhoni was on Monday awarded the nation's highest government sporting prize, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the cricket board said.

Wicketkeeper Dhoni captained the triumphant World Twenty20 squad in 2007 and led the one-day team to a rare tri-series win in Australia early this year. Premier batsman Sachin Tendulkar is the only other cricketer to earn the accolade.

Soccer - Liverpool will look to send Argentine winger Sebastian Leto out on loan after the Department of Work and Pensions refused a work permit for the 21-year-old, who joined last season.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told the Premier League club's website (www.liverpoolfc.tv): "I am disappointed and it was a surprise... Now we have to look for a solution, maybe find a team for him on loan."

Golf - India will stage a European Seniors Tour event in October this year with the Indian Seniors Masters included as a 20th tournament in the schedule, the organisers said.

The 54-hole tournament, carrying prize money of around $600,000, will be held at the Jaypee Greens, a Greg Norman signature course near the capital New Delhi.