British Handball 'disappointed' by lack of UK Sport funding

UK Sport, the nation's high performance sport agency, today announced no less than £345million will be invested into sport by the Government and National Lottery in the run up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.

It is hoped that it will deliver more medals and medallists than ever before to inspire the nation, as it looks to capitalise on the success of Team GB and ParalympicsGB in Rio this summer.

"We find ourselves in a 'chicken and egg' situation that our sport is expected to become an Olympic medal contender with zero funding, before it can be considered for funding," British Handball said in a statement.

"Our senior and other age-group teams are almost totally self-funded. Players pay for hall hire, accommodation, equipment and all other related costs - as well as their own travel costs.

"The lack of funding means that we are unable enter European-qualification or World-qualification events. This is because of the risk of being drawn to host the event and being potentially bankrupted by the process.

"There is a misconception that team sports are expensive to fund. The reality is that British Handball could put together a programme that would get us started on the path to future success with as little as around one-third of a percent of UK Sport's current NGB Performance budget.

"Nevertheless we remain committed to continuing our programme of re-establishing our GB national team across age groups and to seek financial support from other funding parties, both public and private."

Sportsbeat 2016