Tokyo 2020: UK Sport axe badminton funding despite first Olympic medal in 12 years

 

Bronze winnners Chris Langridge & Marcus Ellis (The Telegraph)

 By Steven Oldham 

A first Olympic medal in 12 years in Rio wasn't sufficient enough for Team GB's elite badminton players as UK Sport today surprisingly withdrew all financial support for the Tokyo 2020 cycle.

The controversial decision to cut badminton's comparatively modest £5.7m funding (in contrast, GB's rowers gained £32.6m towards Rio) leaves the team's top players looking at uncertain futures leading to the next Olympiad. 

Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis became the country's first badminton players to secure an Olympic medal in over a decade by winning bronze in the men's doubles in Rio. 

UK Sport had only set the team a target of 0-1 medals at this Games, and their statement today gave no reason as to why badminton funding was removed regardless of Langridge and Ellis' success. 

Archery, fencing, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby also became victims of UK Sport's successful but ruthless policy which rewards sports with 'podium potential' only.  

The policy definitely gets results, but at what cost?  The much-discussed legacy of London 2012 in Great Britain will again be debated as the list of non-funded sports grows ever longer. 

Team sports including handball, basketball and synchronised swimming were jettisoned as soon as London was over. The 'Inspire a Generation' tagline will be a failure if children see no progression to the top in these sports.  Basketball is one of the country's most popular sports by participation but the national team will only go so far without solid financial backing.

In contrast, 42% of UK Sport funding now goes to just 4 sports - rowing, athletics, sailing and cycling.

Any potential funding for the new sports to the Olympic programme - including karate, surfing and sports climbing - will be decided at a later date. 

WINNERS AND LOSERS:

Rowing continues to be the best funded Olympic sport, at £32.1m over the next four years. This is down roughly £500,000 on the Rio cycle. Many sports take a small hit as overall funding is reduced by £9m to £265m. 

Britain's shooters are the big winners in this round of funding, with their figures bucking the trend, leaping to £7m from £3.9m. Two bronze medals in Rio could be considered a lesser haul than Peter Wilson's solitary gold medal from London 2012. 

Hockey and gymnastics both receive an extra £2m, with the gold-medal winning exploits of the women's hockey team and double-champion Max Whitlock.

British Cycling, however, has lost over £4m despite dominating once again in Rio, a Games in which Laura Kenny became the most successful British female Olympian of all time.

In the Paralympics, the loss of wheelchair rugby funding is compounded by rises for the majority of other disability sports, including an eye-catching 342% increase in wheelchair fencing funding to £668,000. Para-athletics takes over from swimming as the most funded sport with £11.8m to swimming's £11m.

MORE READING:

Badminton's Olympic legacy boosted by creation of NBL

Olympics: Five cult heroes from Rio 2016 

"Legacy? What legacy?" ask British basketballers, weightlifters and water polo players as UK Sport funding withdrawn

No Olympics? No problem! Championships galore in minority and developing sports in 2015 as road to Rio continues

By Steven Oldham

Even though there's no Olympic Games this year, there is plenty of action to follow in the sports that make up the biggest show on Earth.

Olympic sports will also benefit from the men's World Cup taking place last year - giving them more opportunity for exposure in 2015 as the months and days tick down to Rio 2016.

Throughout the year lots of sports are holding world and continental championships - here are some highlights.

Handball World Championships
Qatar
January 15-February 1

Will Spain be celebrating again in Doha on February 1?
(beforeitsnews.com)

Handball is the latest sport holding a prestigious tournament in Qatar, with the men's  world championships one of the first events of the year for Olympic sports fans.
Teams from 24 nations will contest the title, including current champions Spain, who made the most of home advantage two years ago and will be looking to seal their position as top dog with Rio 2016 now just 18 months away.
Reigning Olympic and European champions France will also surely be a force to reckoned with, having reclaimed their continental title last year in Denmark.
Having won the Asian Championship for the first time last year, the hosting Qataris should be quietly confident of achieving their best result to date.
The women's tournament takes place in Denmark in December and the majority of places are still to be determined via qualifiers.


FIFA Women's World Cup
Canada
June 6-July 5

Japan's Azusa Iwashimizu, who scored the goal
that sealed her country's first Asian Cup win
(zimbio.com)

The rise in interest in women's football should continue in 2015 with what is likely to be the most watched and talked about World Cup to date.  The tournament has grown to 24 teams for the first time, and as such will follow an awkward route to get to the neat 16/8/4/2 system that works best, with the best four third placed teams in the group stages advancing to the knockout rounds.
Host nation Canada start the proceedings against China on June 6, and all four previous winners (most recent champions Japan, Germany, USA and Norway) have qualified again. The expansion of the tournament will see one third of the teams making their World Cup debuts.
Holders Japan go into the tournament with high hopes following an inaugural Asian Cup win last year, finally winning after being the bridesmaids on four occasions.
Two-times winners Germany qualified for the tournament with ease, winning all 10 games and finishing with an impressive goal difference of +58, while fellow double champions USA will be looking to win a first title since 1999.
 

World Table Tennis Championships
China
April 26-May 3

China's Zhang Jike will be looking to retain his world title on home turf

'Odd' years see table tennis players aiming for individual and doubles titles at the world championships, as opposed to 'even' years which now play host to the team event.
This year the tournament returns to China for a fifth time, this time in the eastern city of Suzhou.  It's hard to look past a highly successful tournament for players from the host nation, and indeed from Asia. At the last edition in Paris two years ago, not one medal escaped to another continent.
Home advantage is likely to play into Chinese hands, who boast the current Olympic and World champions Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia in the men's and women's events respectively. Competition for the holders is likely to come from within; Jike had a poor year by his standards in 2014 and is below countrymen Xu Xin, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong in the ITTF rankings following successive early exits in big competitions.
Beaten in the final two years ago, Liu Shiwen is now higher than Xiaoxia in the world rankings and won the Asian Games last year. They both trail Ding Ning however, who took victory in both the World Cup and Asian Cup in a successful 2014.

World Weightlifting Championships
USA
November 20-29

Albania's Daniel Godelli on his way to gold in Kazakhstan last year

This year's World Weightlifting Championships - to be held in Houston - is also doubling up as a qualifier for Rio 2016. Performance in this tournament - and the 2014 event - are the most important for the various National Olympic Committees as the majority of places for the Games will be decided by lifters' performance in these tournaments. Athletes' performance will directly influence the number of places available to their NOC, and the likelihood of them being selected for Rio. There are further chances to qualify individually, but a strong showing on the world stage will surely give them an advantage. At last year's Worlds in Kazakhstan, Asian nations proved to be the teams to beat with China, North Korea and the host nation winning 11 of the 15 gold medals available between them. Russia's performance dramatically dropped off compared to the year before - winning just one gold compared to six in 2013 - it will be interesting to see which nations' lifters will build momentum heading into the final months before Rio.

IPC Swimming World Championships
Scotland
July 13-19

Will Great Britain's Ellie Simmonds repeat her London 2012 success?

Glasgow is again set to welcome swimmers from across the globe one year on from the Commonwealth Games as the biggest Paralympic swimming meet outside the Games lands in Scotland this summer.
Around 650 swimmers from over 50 countries will take part in the Championships and a good performance here could prove a launch pad for these athletes for next year's Paralympic Games.
Great Britain's golden girl Ellie Simmonds will provide the star attraction for a partisan crowd, and the seven time world and four time Paralympic champion will be keen to add to her medal haul on home turf.

There are too many world and continental championships to mention in one blog - ice hockey, judo, fencing, gymnastics and pentathlon to name but five are all searching for new world champions this year. Keep an eye on my blog nearer to the time for more features on these and other events.

MORE OLYMPICS READING

 

Olympics: How will Agenda 2020 change the future of the Games?

 

England's Helen Clitheroe not retiring after Commonwealth Games...but risks being 'strung up' if she guns for Rio 2016!

 

"Legacy? What legacy?" ask British basketballers, weightlifters and water polo players as UK Sport funding withdrawn

 

Badminton's Olympic legacy boosted by creation of NBL

 

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

 



I'm the world champion, but I want Paralympic gold too says British powerlifter Ali Jawad

By Steven Oldham

British powerlifter Ali Jawad still has unfinished business with the Paralympics despite becoming world champion earlier this month.

The Londoner became the -59kg champion by lifting 190kg at the Powerlifting World Championships in Dubai, setting a new world record in the process.

Jawad admits after winning his first world title his thoughts are now firmly fixed on the Rio 2016 Paralympics - and putting some past demons to bed once and for all.

He came fourth at London 2012, missing out on the medals after having a lift that would have seen him won silver thrown out, reinstated and then thrown out again by the jury, who ordered him to relift 189kg minutes after he had done so the first time.  He couldn't, and missed out on the medals due only to being heavier than the eventual bronze medallist from China.

He said: "It hasn't really sunk in that I'm the world champion yet.  It doesn't seem like I am.  Nothing has really changed for me.

A lot of people have asked me if being world champion has made up for what happened at London 2012.  My first thought was that I need to win in Rio.  My focus is definitely now on 2016."

Competing in Dubai (thanks to Ali for photograph)

Jawad - Lebanese born but London bred - went into his latest competition in Dubai as world record holder in his weight class but momentarily lost it to Iranian lifter Hamzeh Mohamaddi, who lifted 186kg in the first round, 0.5kg than Jawad's record.

The 25-year-old responded with an unmatched lift of 190kg in the next round and reclaimed his world record, an impressive feat given he weighs less than a third of what he lifted.

"Our plan was to go in at the world record, but he went in higher in the first round.  We weren't expecting that!", he said.

Next in Ali's sights is the final qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the summer.  He is set to compete in the qualifiers in Coventry on 11 May at the Ricoh Arena, having already gained 160 points towards a place in Team England.

Only three powerlifters are able to go forward to the Games for England and Jawad reckons it will take a big effort from other lifters to make the 160 points target.

"I've already reached 160 and so has another lifter.  It will be a big ask for anyone else to reach it.

In the grand scheme of things, the Commonwealths are not that important - they are in the same four year cycle as the Worlds which have to take precedence.  It's still a competition I'm training hard for and it will be very difficult to win.  I reckon my main competition will be from Nigeria."

Nigerian lifter Anthony Ulomman took bronze in Dubai to underline his podium credentials for Glasgow, albeit having lifted 7kg less than Jawad, who is relishing performing in front of a British crowd once more.

"I still see Glasgow as a home Games.  Hopefully I can do well and if I medal it might start to make up for what happened in London," he said.

You can follow Ali's progress via his Twitter page, @AliJawad12

More Olympic and Paralympic sport:

Badminton's Olympic legacy boosted by creation of NBL

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

"Legacy? What legacy?" ask British basketballers, weightlifters and water polo players as UK Sport funding withdrawn

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