Washington, Apr 9 (IANS): On the wings of publicity generated by their escapade, two wannabe reality TV stars who crashed a White House state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh kicked off 'USA vs. India' polo festivities at a glittering party here.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who sauntered into Nov 24 event without an invitation, did not have to crash the 'Hollywood vs. Bollywood' party Thursday to launch their America's Polo Cup, featuring a match between Indian and US teams in front of the Washington monument on June 12.

In fact the Salahis were the key attraction at the event sponsored by India' s Kingfisher Airlines, Glittarazzi, a Washington-based social and gossip blog and JMD Creations to officially launch the Cup.

The kick off event at a downtown Washington hotel, a couple of blocks from the White House featured local celebrities and several dance groups, including the "Kajal and the Dhoonya Indian Dance Team" which performed live on Oprah to Slumdog Millionaire's "Jai Ho".

The Indian embassy, which had held a reception for the Salahis in September to announce the match, terminated its association with the 2010 America's Polo Cup after the gate crashing incident.