UK Sport confident in search for Hickey's successor

By George Scott, Sportsbeat

UK SPORT chief Liz Nicholl insists the future is bright for British boxing despite the surprise resignation of performance director Kevin Hickey. 

BUMPER HAUL: James DeGale's middleweight gold was one of three medals Great Britain's boxers won in Beijing but will internal problems cause problems for London 2012 ambitions? (Getty Images)

Hickey's departure came after Great Britain returned from last week's World Championships without a medal to their name, despite their best Olympic haul - one gold and two bronzes - for 56 years in Beijing.

The 68-year-old cited personal reasons - believed to be the excessive workload brought on by the role - for quitting just eight months after his high-profile appointment.
 
But Nicholl - chief operating officer of UK Sport, the government agency responsible for allocating funding to Olympic sports - insists Hickey has achieved all that was required of him.
 
"I think it was about the sport going through a review and changes being made over the next few years to ensure the best possible results are delivered in 2012," she told Sportsbeat.
                                             
"What Kevin did as performance director was to provide some stability to the programme after the Olympics.
 
"It's a year in which all the sports reflect on exactly what they need, what their plans are for the next three years and how they can achieve the ambitions that we all have for 2012.
 
"There was a lot of focus on developing the high performance centre in Sheffield, which is working really well for the athletes.
 
"There are a lot of things that Kevin achieved in that period that he can be very proud of ."
 
Hickey was no stranger to Great Britain boxing when he was appointed in January, having coached the national team in five Olympics between 1972 and 1988. 
 
But his return to the setup came in controversial circumstances after Terry Edwards - responsible for Great Britain's success in Beijing - was ousted from his position as head coach in shabby fashion.
 
Edwards - who went on to oversee the restructuring of Ghana's amateur boxing programme - has been tipped to return, although the internal politics might make that difficult.
 
But Nicholl revealed any potential successor to Hickey will have a different agenda to fulfill.
 
"The job that will now be advertised will be different to the job which the performance director has just resigned from," she added.
 
"And that's what sports should do - they should reflect the needs of the programme, which change over time.
 
"Kevin did a great job over this period but now it's time for the next person to step up."