Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev on Saturday lamented that Finance Minister P Chidambaram had given just "peanuts" to sports in the annual budget for 2008-09 and questioned how country's sportspersons could be expected to win medals at the Olympics.
"When you (Chidambaram) have given so much to others, including the farmers, why not sportspersons... and then how can you expect our sportspersons to win medals at the Olympics or put up good performance at other events," the former cricket captain told reporters here.
The Finance Minister has earmarked Rs 1,111.81 crore for the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, a hike of Rs 331 crore over financial year 07-08.
"We have been raising our voice on so many occasions that sportspersons are not getting enough, but they (the Government) do not have time to listen to us. There are so many promising players who cannot afford to import costly sports equipment from abroad because of high duties," he said.
He said a small country like Holland has over 200 astro turfs, "but in India we have just 15. We cannot afford to import more because of high duties. Can't our Government take a big step for the benefit of our sportspersons? How many crores will they lose in taxes? Is it more than the pride of our nation? When sportsmen go out and bring medals for us, the country's name shines.
"I will say they have made sportspersons cry in what they have given them in the budget, which is less than what cricket earns in TV rights these days," said Kapil.
