President Callicott claims volleyball was under-cut

Posted: Friday 30th January 2009 | 11:35

BRITISH Volleyball president Richard Callicott has been left dazed and confused by UK Sport's funding cuts, claiming they went back on their word.

British Volleyball chief at a loss after funding cuts
CLUELESS: Volleyball president Callicott mystified by UK Sport funding announcement (Getty Images)

Volleyball is one of eight Olympic sports that were left out in the cold by UK Sport in December - paying the penalty for a £50 million shortfall in private sector funding.

That left £11.2m which was partitioned among the remaining eight sports in UK Sport's announcement yesterday, with volleyball feeling the full force of a 57.3 per cent cut from £4.11m for 2008 to £1.754m.

And Callicott, who is convinced British Volleyball met all the targets laid down by UK Sport, insists he cannot understand the funding cuts.

"We have made great progress in both beach volleyball and indoor volleyball and have hit all performance targets set for us," he said.

"We are wholly unable to understand UK Sport's thinking that, having heard and acknowledged the difficulties of delivering our uniquely complex sport, they should turn round and give us less money than they had originally planned to."

Despite neither the men's or women's team competing at the Beijing Olympics, British Volleyball has been making significant strides in recent months.

The men showed significant progress at the World Championships in Sheffield despite crashing to two defeats earlier this month, while the women chalked up their first ever world championship victory over Montenegro.

But Callicott is adamant all the good work has now been undone and with six different disciplines falling under the British Volleyball umbrella, getting to London 2012 represents an extreme challenge.

"We are in the unique position of having six programmes to run - the men's and women's teams in indoor, beach volleyball and the Paralympic discipline of sitting volleyball," he added.

"We now have to find a way of working closely with all partners and potential partners to support the continuing development of our players.

"It's unfortunate for them because they have all shown huge commitment and personal sacrifice to prove that GB teams can be a competitive force in world volleyball."