The sports ministry on Thursday received a hike of Rs 258.2 crore in the union budget for 2018-19, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Parliament here, reports news agency PTI. Mr Jaitley allocated a total of Rs 2196.36 crore for the sports ministry, compared to 1938.16 crore earmarked last year. However, one distinct feature of this year's sports budget is the reduced funding allocated to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). SAI had received Rs 495.73 crore in the 2017-18 financial year 2017-18, but this year the allocation has been reduced to Rs 429.56 crore, a cut of Rs 66.17 crore.