UK Sport performance director fears for future of handball

UK SPORT director of performance Peter Keen is confident the vast majority of Olympic sports will be have British representation at London 2012 - but admitted handball's future still hangs in the balance.

CLOCK IS TICKING: UK Sport director of performance Peter Keen admits time is running out for British Handball

Following a £50 million shortfall in UK Sport funding in January, eight Olympic sports saw their London coffers significantly streamlined - all eight incurred decreases of at least 50 per cent.

Handball's grant was slashed by 51.6 per cent to £1.448m, but the likes of fencing and shooting - which has come under the watchful gaze British Olympic Association performance director Sir Clive Woodward - have the advantage of focusing their funding and attention on a few individuals.

Just five of the previous 46 members of the British Shooting now receive funding, while British fencing has focused its attentions on the elite few - and as Richard Kruse has broken into the top ten in the world, it's paying dividends.

But handball is in the unique situation that all athletes are based overseas - essentially fending for themselves on the continent as the UK lacks the provisions to support them.

And while Keen believes British Handball has done an admirable job in relocating their players, he does not harbour a great deal of hope for their London 2012 chances.

"It's a tough one because there's just not the infrastructure for them to remain in the UK," said Keen.

"It's a unique challenge for them to be based abroad. They have had to move out of their Danish base and so all the players are playing in Europe for different clubs.

"We have to hand it to them because they are trying very hard and at present all players are with one club or another.

"But no other sport has this kind of challenge, so it's very difficult for them. All we can do at the moment is recognise their efforts and keeping talking to them as regularly as possible.

"It's something we could envisage actually. After the honeymoon period when handball first came onto the scene in this country there was always going to be a lull."

Handball was the only able-bodied sport to receive a red rating in the UK Mission 2012 Report, which adopts a traffic-lights system for the 26 Olympic summer sports.

Those to come through the evaluation, which requires every sport to project a tangible performance target for 2009, with flying colours included rowing, cycling, sailing and canoeing.

While swimming and athletics, arguably the two most popular Olympic sports, received amber ratings as both are on the cusp of their respective World Championships this summer.

UK Sport chief executive John Steele insists he is content with the current situation but with just over three years to go until London 2012, he was the first to admit there is plenty of room for improvement.

"By the end of July there will only be three years to go until the London Games and I think we can be satisfied with where we're at," added Steele.

"Our sports and athletes have now re-focused after Beijing and it has been very refreshing over the past month to see our summer Olympians back in action and competing well against international opposition.

"But time is flying by and London will be here before we know it so any barriers to optimum performance must be removed.

"We're in regular contact with both swimming and athletics and while we're not panicking, both us at UK Sport and the relevant organisations are aware there is plenty of work to be done.

"But in terms of able-bodied sports, we're in a fantastic position with a great deal of talent at our disposal and we now have some excellent performance directors and head coaches as well."