Tuesday 4 February 2014

Wheelchair fencing, football and goalball all lose funding despite big increase for other Paralympic sports

By Steven Oldham

Great Britain's Paralympic sailors and canoeists were the big winners today as UK Sport announced the results of their Annual Investment Review, but three sports lost funding all together.

Wheelchair fencing, five-a-side football and goalball will receive no backing in the Rio 2016 Paralympic cycle, in contrast to sailing and canoeing's rises of over £800,000 and £750,000 respectively.

All other Paralympic disciplines have either retained the same level of funding or had small increases.  The swimming and athletics teams top the funding table, with £11.7m and £10.8m respectively.

Athletes in the sports where funding has been axed now face the daunting prospect of self-supporting their way to Rio.  The sports were deemed unrealistic medal hopes at both Rio and Tokyo 2020 and have had funding removed as a result. 

The Annual Investment Review was the most detailed ever undertaken by UK Sport and consisted of 16 different elements including athlete performance, operations and programme strategy.

For my take on the Olympics funding cycle, click here

Follow @spoldham on Twitter

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog