Things are looking up for the York City Knights with five players close to making a return.

The injury blighted side have been decimated by absentees in recent weeks, but Richard Agar has been lifted by the news that Chris Smith, Jim Elston and Damian Ball are all well on the mend.

Smith has been given the all-clear by his specialist to resume training this week following knee surgery, and is targeting the end of July for his full comeback, while Elston - also struggling with a knee problem - could be passed fit for the July 11 Hunslet game.

The best news of all is that loose-forward Ball is in line for a return this weekend. It had originally been feared that his ankle ligament injury picked up against the London Skolars would rule him out until August.

Mick Ramsden and Dan Briggs will also both undergo fitness tests at training tonight with hopes of a recovery by the end of the week.

Rob Kama's shot at glory in the fastest man in rugby league competition petered out at the first hurdle last night at Wigan's Robin Park Arena.

The Fijian flier, who has a lifetime best of 10.35 seconds over 100metres, was picked as the Knights' representative for the Sport Relief challenge. But he failed to make the final after being unsettled by a series of false starts in his heat.

Updated: 10:29 Thursday, July 01, 2004