David Sparkes used a statement timed to coincide with the appearance of the now unfunded GB women's water polo team at the European Championships in Budapest to cast doubt on the effectiveness of UK sports policy for women.

Referring to the "significant progress" of the water polo team prior to its loss of funding - progress that included an upset victory over world champions Spain in Manchester in April - Sparkes said: "It is a real shame that the significant progress that has been made under the sport's new coach is now to be lost to the sport forever because the funding isn't there to continue the programme.

"This is a team that has shown...that it could have gone on to achieve success at world and European level.

"Many of the GB team face tough decisions over their futures at the conclusion of the European Championships.

"For some, the end of the water polo performance programme will mean the need to find employment and retire from international competition.

"We've also seen this decision within basketball.

"Both are sports that are attractive to women and yet we have a Minister that claims she wants to see more women in sport.

"The Minister needs to decide what is important for the future of sport in the UK.

"She needs to support these sports and these female athletes who have fought for their sports and for their country.

"If we don't we will be denying a generation of young girls the opportunity to reach the top of their sport and represent their country."

British Swimming chief executive Daivd Sparkes is urging sports Minister Helen Grant to "decide what is important for the future of sport in the UK" ©Getty Images



Sparkes concluded: "We've all found it hard to hide the fact, but the disappointing withdrawal of funding by UK Sport has had a major impact on this team."

While the GB team lost its three group games in Budapest, it matched its opponents for long periods in two of the matches and it is hard not to conclude it would have fared even better but for the stress, disappointment and loss of support the deprivation of funding caused.

It was in February that UK Sport, Britain's elite sports funding body, announced that the £4.54 million ($7.53 million/€5.54 million) water polo had initially been awarded to see them through to the Rio 2016 Olympics had been redistributed to other sports.

"Water polo was among the sports that were not able to demonstrate they had a realistic chance of performing well within the top eight in Rio 2016 and targeting a medal performance in 2020," the body said.

The team's fate was sealed, apparently definitively, nearly two months later, when British Swimming decided not to appeal this withdrawal of elite performance funding, although it is pursuing an appeal against the withdrawal of funding from synchronised swimming.

The minutes of a UK Sport board meeting on May 7 reveal that an appeal panel "comprising Queen's Counsel and two lay members" has been appointed.

UK Sport has been saddled with a taxing - public - target for Rio of becoming the first nation in recent history to be more successful in both Olympic and Paralympic Games post hosting.

In Olympic terms, this means winning 66 medals.

In this environment, where Olympic silverware has been allowed to become the be all and end all of elite sports funding policy, critics feel that team sports inevitably will struggle to justify investment, as they typically offer fewer medals per pound expended.

By contrast, the social impact of team sports is arguably particularly beneficial, enhancing the potential value of team-sport athletes as role models.