Saturday, December 12, 2009

Boxing plans under Olympic review


The British Amateur Boxing Association claimed it would have to revise its programme in the run-up to the London Olympics after receiving just over half the funding they had been planning for.

Boxing, which got the green light from the International Olympic Committee for women boxers to compete at the 2012 Games, received a net increase in funding of £950,000, UK Sport announced on Thursday.

But BABA chairman Derek Mapp revealed they had been hoping for £1.8million and cuts to the programme would now have to be made.

"We haven't got what we require to implement our programme fully," said Mapp.

"We had originally bid for £1.8million for the women's programme.

"We are not trying to be greedy, we are just trying to be pragmatic.

"This will mean a cut in either the women's or men's programme."

Asked if the sport had been organising a programme on the basis it would receive all the money it had asked for, Mapp said: "Yes, to be honest.

"That's not available now, so we are going to have to pull our belts in.

"It's going to be tougher than we thought it would be."

David Sparkes, chief executive of British Swimming, welcomed the announcement of the funding figures.

Water polo was one of the eight sports that had suffered from funding cuts but Sparkes said: "This is a very sensible outcome and reflects the fact that inflation is running significantly lower in the current financial climate.

"Although we're not getting figures that we planned for, given the fact we're operating within a tight financial environment, I'm confident we can deliver in terms of our performance goals in 2012.

"This investment means we now have the funds available to get the job done right. All aquatic sports have clearly made excellent progress this year with impressive results on the international stage and this additional funding will clearly enable us to continue this momentum.

"Overall we think today's announcement is great news to support the hard work taking place within the aquatic disciplines.

"We are currently in discussions with the British Olympic Association in regard to all the Olympic qualifying standards but we now envisage, through this funding, that water polo will be part of the largest aquatics team we've ever had at an Olympics as we continue on an upwards trajectory."

British Handball are delighted with their funding increase after learning they had been awarded an extra £1.44million by UK Sport.

When they were awarded the same amount back in February to cover the 2009-2013 funding cycle, British Handball decided to spend the majority of it over the first two years to maintain the development of their squads.

The sport's chief executive Paul Goodwin said: "We took the risky option to take the money that UK Sport granted us a year ago and we rolled that into two years because we just wouldn't have made any progress.

"It was a high risk strategy because we really didn't know where future funding was going to come from.

"This new Team 2012 initiative which has brought in the VISA money has enabled this to happen so that is really good news for us.".

With the news extra funds have been made available, British Handball are assured of being able to continue their programme up to the London Olympics and into 2013.

Goodwin added: "This funding provides us the certainty which has been lacking until now that we can fund the preparation of our senior teams for the London 2012 Olympics."

Meanwhile, the Thames Gateway region could get a world class handball facility by the end of 2011 if the Olympic Development Agency give it the go-ahead.

The developer has consulted British Handball about its plans and it could house two full size training courts which would convert to one match court with 1000 seats in competition mode.

"It would only happen if it would form part of the ODA's training facilities for the 2012 Olympics," said Goodwin.

"There are good number of other facilities that they are looking at so it's a case of if they plump to go with this one because of its locality and the legacy value of it."

"We are in discussions with Futsal and early talks with Indoor Hockey who both think the facility would benefit them.

"It would be a perfect training facility but it's a case of seeing whether it would be the best investment for their money."

Badminton England have reacted positively to news their UK Sport funding is to be cut over the next four years.

UK Sport awards money based on realistic medal prospects and it has been decided badminton's allocation through to 2013 should be cut from £8,631,700 to £7.97million.

Badminton England have accepted that change and realise the recent retirement of two of the country's better players, Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg, make it understandable.

Emms won silver in the mixed doubles at Athens in 2004 while Kellogg is a reigning European champion in the same discipline.

Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: "We are all aware of the difficult economic climate and are therefore pleased to have received a confirmed figure through the Olympic period, which now allows us to fully focus on preparing for the (2012) Games.

"We are also pleased to have received the full backing of UK Sport, who fully appreciate the potential we have to deliver medal success in the years to come, which truly recognises the talent we have on our programme.

"Our funding adjustment was always likely to reflect the loss of podium stars like European mixed doubles champion Donna Kellogg, who last week followed her women's doubles partner Gail Emms into retirement.

"We are now fully focused on developing our emerging young stars like Chris Adcock, Gabby White and Jenny Wallwork, who continue to take enormous inspiration from experienced winners like Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark."

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