Although boxing received a net increase in funding of £950,000, to take the total amount it will receive in the period 2009 until 2013 to £8.9 million, the amount falls some way short of the £1.8 million they had been expecting from the new Team 2012 initiative  backed by Visa.

Mapp said: "We are not trying to be greedy; we are just trying to be pragmatic as amateur boxing has a track record of delivering [Olympic] medals and value for money.

"Following the IOC’s (International Olympic Committee's) decision to include women’s boxing at London 2012, we developed a programme to deliver world class performance and give Team GB the best opportunity to maximise the undoubted talent we have in this area and turn it into medals.

"The requirements of that programme will only be partially met by the funding allocation announced today. 

"We will be reviewing our plans for both men and women and making an assessment of how we can continue to deliver the highest standards of training and preparation for our male and female athletes and maintain the sport’s track record of delivering medal success."

But badminton, who suffered a cut in funding from £8.6 million to £7.9 million following a series of disappointing performances and the retirement of Athens silver medallist Gail Emms and, most recently, European champion Donna Kellogg (pictured), England’s two most experienced women players, refused to criticise UK Sport.

Adrian Christy, Badminton England's chief executive, said: "We are all aware of the difficult economic climate and are therefore pleased to have received a confirmed figure through the Olympic period which now allows us to fully focus on preparing for the Games. 

"We are also pleased to have received the full backing of UK Sport who clearly appreciate the potential we have to deliver medal success in the years to come, which truly recognises the talent we have on our programme.

"Our funding adjustment was always likely to reflect the loss of podium stars like Donna, who last week followed Gail into retirement.

"We are now fully focused on developing our emerging young stars like Chris Adcock, Gabby White and Jenny Wallwork, who continue to take enormous inspiration from experienced winners like Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark.

"With funding assured through to 2013,  Badminton England are now in a position to properly manage their aspirations over this vital next phase for the sport with a World Championships in London in 2011 and the Olympic Games in 2012."

Other sports, though, particularly handball were overjoyed at the new figures.

Handball had their funding doubled to £2.8 million to help them prepare for their Olympic debut at London 2012.

After being awarded £1.44 million in February to cover the 2009-2013 funding cycle, British Handball decided to "front-load" all that money over the first two years to maintain the development of their squads.

With the doubling of that award, they are assured of being able to continue their programme up to the London Olympics and into 2013.

Paul Goodwin, the chief executive of British Handball, said: "I am delighted that UK Sport has recognised the progress that handball has continued to make.

"I am certain that their decision to increase our funding will be fully justified.

"This funding provides us the certainty which has been lacking until now that we can fund the preparation of our senior teams for the London 2012 Olympics.

"But we also have to build a sustainable structure for handball in Britain for the longer term and I hope that the confidence shown by UK Sport today will now encourage the public and commercial partners to really get behind Team 2012 and British Handball and support our athletes."

Richard Callicott, President of British Volleyball, was just as pleased that his sport's funding had been more than doubled from £1.3 million to £2.7 million.

He said: "For the past year we have been working extremely hard to focus our efforts to ensure we had the ability to see all our athletes compete on home soil – but we took a big risk doing so. 

"UK Sport have shown today that it has recognised the tremendous progress we have made and that our gamble was worth it and we do now have much more certainty and ability to plan than yesterday."

Contact the writer of this [email protected].


Related stories
December 2009: Minior sports winner as funding for Olympics doubled