Ahmedabad: Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) L K Advani today (Feb 09, 2004) lamented the "poor" representation of the country's sportspersons on the international front.

"It certainly hurts, looking at where such a large country stands in sports. 10 years earlier, it used to hurt even more," Advani said after laying the foundation stone for a pavilion to be constructed in Gujarat College from his MP (Member of Parliament) fund.

"But now at least in cricket, with the entry of Sachin (Tendulkar), (Sourav) Ganguly and Parthiv Patel it makes us feel that we have a firm presence. It is a different thing that we were thrashed in Australia," Advani said, in an obvious reference to yesterday's (Feb 08, 2004) defeat in Sydney, evoking laughter from the audience.

He was referring to India's 208 runs' thrashing at the hands of World cricket Champions Australia in Sydney.

"However, the country is formidable in cricket and there cannot be any objections to it," he added.

The DPM, who is on a two-day whirlwind tour to seven Assembly seats constituting his Gandhinagar Parliamentary constituency also recalled how he was "hurt" by a witty poem recited by a famous humorist when India failed to bag any medals at Tokyo Olympics 15 years ago.

Advani said the poet had compared sportspersons to Indian sages, who never yearned for gold, silver or bronze.