Sports Disappointed Over Funding Decision for Tokyo 2020

(ATR) UK Sport has rejected the appeals of seven sports against funding cuts for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Archery, badminton, goalball, fencing, table tennis, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby were told Monday they will not receive any funding at all, damaging their hopes of qualifying athletes for the Games.

UK Sport’s decision came after its December announcement to drop the sports’ funding. It followed representations made by the seven national governing bodies at UK Sport’s board meetings on Feb. 6-7. Only powerlifting won its appeal.

Despite Team GB’s bronze in the men’s doubles at the Rio Olympics, badminton stands to lose the most. It was handed $7.1 million for the four-year build-up to 2016 Games, achieved the one medal target – but now gets nothing for Tokyo 2020 preparations.

"We are staggered by this decision," said a GB Badminton statement.

"Given the strength of evidence we were able to present to justify investment, we cannot believe UK Sport has concluded they should stand by their decision and award zero funding to our GB program.

"We have players who are on track to win medals for the nation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and our belief in those players remains as great as it's ever been. We will now take some time to consider our next steps."

UK Sport is investing $430 million in 31 Olympic and Paralympic sports – a $2.5 million reduction on the money allocated for Rio 2016.

British Fencing also missed out and said its world-class program was delivering consistent and improving international results, with "athletes recognized as having medal-winning potential for Tokyo. This decision is extremely disappointing for the program, its staff and especially the individual athletes concerned".

Chief executive Georgina Usher added: "Having to explain to them why the program funding will be coming to an end is extremely tough.

"We will be appealing this decision as we owe it to our athletes to pursue every avenue open to us to challenge this funding decision process."

On Wednesday, British Fencing will be launching a crowdfunding campaign to #FundFencing.

Explaining its decision, met with deep disappointment by the other five sports who appealed, UK Sport emphasized the need to prioritize investment in sports’ programs with the greatest chance of delivering medal success.

"It’s a winning formula that has been proven to work over the last three Olympic and Paralympic cycles," said UK Sport’s CEO Liz Nicholl.

"It is uncompromisingly focused on excellence, relative merit and what it takes to pursue the ambition to win more medals and create more medalists in Tokyo to inspire the nation.

"The sports that made representations to our board were unable to provide any critically compelling new evidence that changed our assessment of their medal potential for Tokyo. Their position in our meritocratic table therefore remains unchanged and they remain in a band that we cannot afford to invest in."

She added: "This is the first time that we have been unable to support every sport that has athletes with the potential to deliver medals at the next Games. We don’t take these decisions lightly as we are acutely aware of the impact they have on sports, athletes and support personnel."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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