Team GB funding plans announced

Good news for basketball's Pops Mensah-Bonsu - bad news for shooter Charlotte Kerwood

Basketball, synchronised swimming, taekwondo, boxing, archery and hockey are the big winners in UK Sport's Olympic 2012 funding programme.

All six have received sizeable increases in their budgets ahead of London, with basketball getting a huge 136% increase, up from £3.7m to £8.7m.

Rowing is now Britain's best funded Olympic sport, getting £27.5m of the £304m pot available.

The big losers include shooting, table tennis, handball and fencing.

Along with volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling - plus four Paralympic sports - have yet to have their individual funding allocations confirmed.

But, as it stands, they will have to share £12.5 between them, although UK Sport has told each sport to try to identify further available funding, both from private investment and from other potential sources of income.

"We are gutted," Paul Goodwin, general manager of British Handball, told BBC Sport. "I don't know how we are going to afford our coaches."

UK Sport insists the level of funding builds on the £265m that was provided ahead of the Beijing Games and enables Britain to target a top-four finish in the medals table in London.

But its £550m budget is £50m below the £600m that had been pledged and has meant that some sports, like handball, have lost out.

BIGGEST FUNDING INCREASES Basketball £8.75m +136.9% Synchronised Swimming £3.46m +109.8% Taekwondo £4.49m +68.3% Boxing £8.02m +60.3% Archery £4.50m +58.7% Hockey £14.13m +43.0% Full sport-by-sport breakdown

Sue Campbell, chair of UK Sport, said: "The decisions made by our board were not easy, but they were right.

"With a shortfall in the overall funding available we had to make some tough calls, but we did so in the knowledge that our 'no compromise' strategy is not only known and understood by sport but was also the basis of our success in Beijing.

"While it is disappointing that we are not today able to offer the full level of resources to all sports, we can only invest what we have available to us.

"We will now do everything we can to deliver additional funding into sport and help close the gap, including sitting down with every affected sport and determining how best we can ensure their programmes continue to be supported.

"We remain absolutely committed to all Olympic and Paralympic sports, and will do everything we can to help get them to the start line in four years time. We will not give up on anybody."

The shortfall would have been greater had the government not found an additional £29m of funding on Tuesday.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham insisted that the extra cash meant that Britain's Olympians had "certainty" as they prepared for the London Games.

"It's a good deal but a realistic one given the changed economic circumstances we are now in," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"People can build for London. This is a package that works for everybody."

UK Sport, which handles budgets for Britain's Olympians and Paralympians, had been allocated £600m over six years for elite sports, with £300m coming from the government, £200m from the Lottery and £100m from the private sector.

But with a global financial crisis in full swing, no money was forthcoming from businesses, leaving UK Sport with the prospect of reducing the number of athletes, and perhaps sports, it funded ahead of the London Games.

Burnham remains confident of being able to tease money out of the private sector to help athletes prepare for London.

People can build for London... this is a package that works for everybody Andy Burnham Culture secretary

"Sport is such a great thing to invest in, even in difficult economic times," he said.

"It's not frivolous spending in any way, shape or form. This is money that brings real benefit in terms of greater activity in the population and real joy, real happiness when we see our national team do well.

"It is also right now that we really up our efforts to bring in private sector funding to support our preparations for London."

Shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson has insisted the government should have honoured the original commitment.

"This still falls £50m short of what the Government unconditionally promised sport that it would get two years ago."

Team GB finished fourth in the medals table in Beijing, exceeding expectations by landing 19 golds. China were top with 51 golds, followed by the USA (36) and Russia (23).

At the Paralympics, Team GB claimed 42 golds to finish in second place in the table, 47 behind the hosts.

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