Drinkhall fears further funding cuts if he doesn't perform

BRITISH No.1 Paul Drinkhall believes his Olympic dream will be ruined by further funding cuts within 18 months - unless he pulls out all the stops.


CLOCK IS TICKING: British No.1 Paul Drinkhall knows he is against the clock in his bid to realise his London 2012 dream (Getty Images)

Drinkhall has displayed glimpses of his glowing potential recently by coming within a whisker of defeating world number 21 Zoran Primorac at the World Championships, and reaching the final of the Dunlop Masters.

The 19-year-old - along with fellow teenager Darius Knight - have both been earmarked as potential 2012 success stories, but both were dealt a hammer blow when table tennis felt the brunt of UK Sport's funding cuts in January.

Instead of the £2.53 million received in the lead-up to Beijing, table tennis only has £1.2m prior to London 2012, leaving Drinkhall burdened by the weight of expectation.

"The British Table Tennis Federation is struggling for money at the moment, it's just been cut, and so we've only got a year-and-a-half where we've got funding for training and tournaments," he said.

"Unless we do something big in that time the funding is going to be cut again.

"That's tough when, for example, its 10-9 in a very close game. It can get to you - you think to yourself - we really need this for the whole team.

"For other nations who have the money it doesn't matter if they lose - the funding is not a problem. For us a loss now means there is a bigger chance of the funding going down."

Drinkhall has certainly enjoyed a baptism in fledgling senior career and overcame both Knight and and former world champion Jorgen Persson on his way to the Dunlop Masters final.

He also had a match point to overcome Primorac, despite letting a 3-0 lead slip in Yokohama, and the former European youth champion insists he still has time to prevent his 2012 hopes from going bankrupt.

"If I can get more experience and win these matches against top players then over the next two to three years I can really push myself," he added.

"I try and stay out of the money problems as much as I can but I know at the end of the day it's down to the players to get the money.

"2012 is a huge aim but also now I've got to start to start pushing on to get results so we can actually be there in London.

"I'm starting to believe that I can beat almost anybody in the world."

GEORGE SCOTT