Last updated on March 23rd, 2022 at 01:43 am
UK Sport: GB Badminton has funding cut
Bad news for Badminton as a sport and especially GB Badminton as UK sport cuts funding despite meeting its target at the Rio Olympic Games. Why has GB Badminton has funding cut?
UK Sport had initially announced the cut in funding late last year. However sports facing the cut had the opportunity to appeal and prove they had genuine medal potential. UK Sport fundamentally requires proof that a sport will win a medal which is something no sport can guarantee.
GB Badminton said in a 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 programme.
“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.”
Like help with other areas of the sport?
- Choosing The Right Badminton Racket: A Beginners Guide
- Find Out About One of the Sports Best Players
- How To Minimise Injury
- Improve your Footwork
- Techniques For The Beginners
- The Best Way To Get Fit & Stay Fit
- Which Type of Shuttlecock is Best?
- Badminton Best Buys
Great Britain silver medallist Gail Emms (Athens 2004) has been particularly vocal at the decision.
She said “The players out there were really pinning their hopes on this. I was such an optimist; I thought it was going to be OK. We put forward a strong case. It is going to be tough now for the sport.”
The cuts come as the overall budget that UK Sport has reduced, with a lot of money coming from the National Lottery which has seen a fall in sales.
Other Sports To Have Funding Cut
Badminton is not the only loser in this round of cuts. Other sports to lose funding for Tokyo 2020 Olympics include:
- Table Tennis – GB won a bronze medal at 2016 World Team Championships.
- Fencing
- Archery
- Weightlifting
- Goalball
- Wheelchair Rugby
Whilst it may seem harsh UK Sports policy of only funding the sports with real medal potential has proved successful. Great Britain has once again become sporting powerhouse winning medal after medal. However with money tighter than previous years they are now cutting funding to sports that have real medal hopes and that cannot be a good thing.
It’s a sad time for British Badminton in particular as the sport was beginning to receive more coverage and the players becoming known to a wider audience. That will potentially hit the grass roots uptake in the sport.
To put it in some sort of context GB player Kirsty Gilmour claims it’s will cost her £30,000 a year which she will now need to find through private sponsors.
She said “I don’t want to have to worry about where my next pay cheque is coming from,” Gilmour told BBC Scotland. She added “It costs somewhere between £25,000 – £30,000 a year,” she said. “All I want to do is concentrate on playing badminton. I’m going to have to split my focus and am trying to go down the private sponsorship route.
How do the British Badminton players fair in the world rankings?
A current look at the latest world rankings shows the top British men’s single player Rajiv Ouseph is ranked number 14. The woman’s singles shows the top British player is Kirsty Gilmour at number 56 in the world.
Mixed doubles sees the top GB men at 14 and the women at 22. However when it comes to the mix doubles the top British ranked players are Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock at number eight.
Final Thought : GB Badminton has funding cut
A huge hammer blow for Team GBs Badminton players. Hopefully some sort of alternative funding can be found and soon.
Help us understand how you play the sport by taking part in our Badminton Poll
