Although the figure from Sport England does not match the £7 million ($11.5 million/€8.5 million) of Olympic funding that was withdrawn in February, the organisation will also receive technical support from UK Sport, including advice on talent identification and coach development, to help the men's, women's, under 20 men's and under 20 women's teams from November this year to March 2017.

British Basketball must also invest £592,000 ($937,000/€757,000) of its own money, while the senior women's team must target a top 12 position in next year's European Championship Finals and the senior men's team must qualify for the 2017 European Championship Finals as conditions of the agreement.

British Basketball welcomed the move, which comes after much pressure from politicians, media commentators and the sports community - including International Basketball Federation secretary general and International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann - over the decision to cut funding of not only basketball but also of synchronised swimming, water polo, visually impaired football, goalball and wheelchair fencing.

It also comes after last week's announcement that UK Sport it is to launch its first public consultation into how it distributes funding following fierce criticism of its "no compromise" policy.

Minister for Sport Helen Grant said the investment means British Basketball has to "step up", while Sport England is putting in place strong conditions around the governance of the sport, including "more independence on the Board".

The senior men's team must qualify for the 2017 European Championship Finals as a condition of the agreement ©Getty Images




"The last few months have been tough ones for everyone involved with basketball in this country," British Basketball performance chairman Roger Moreland said.

"The Minister has listened carefully to our case and I would like to thank her for the role she has played in brokering a solution."

UK Sport will also look into basketball's under-performance against its targets in previous years - the men's and women's teams suffered a disappointing outing at London 2012, where they only won one of 10 matches at their home Games - and going forward, will conduct reviews twice a year, as part of its Mission 2016 process, to ensure the sport is progressing.

"UK Sport has been working closely with Sport England and DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) to address the questions relating to the appropriate level of support to British Basketball," UK Sport chief executive Liz Nichol said.

"We are delighted this has now been agreed with UK Sport's technical expertise in high performance support complementing the investment from Sport England  to help basketball continue to progress to become more competitive at the elite level."

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