YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The 501 million Armenian Drams–earmarked by the 2000 draft budget for sport–will be enough to maintain it on the current level only–told culture and sport minister Roland Sharoyan to parliament deputies February 11.
2000 is an Olympic year and most of the deputies were concerned that one million earmarked for preparatory work is not sufficient to expect serious results from Armenian athletes in Sydney.
Citing the Britain’s example that had allocated 500 million for previous Olympic games–Sharoyan said that the British sportsmen won only 1 gold medal–as many as Armenia.
Some deputies proposed to raise the sum for Olympic preparatory work at the expense of cutting expenditures earmarked for other sectors. According to minister Sharoyan–700 million Drams are needed to expect serious results from Armenian athletes in Sydney. He claimed that the sporting gains have also political importance.
Nineteen Armenian athletes have gained so far the right to participate in 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. Their number is expected to reach 30.