Today, UK Sport has announced the 14 Olympic and Paralympic sports that have received investment from the new £3 million Aspiration Fund to help support their ambitions to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
The Aspiration Fund, which was announced by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in October this year, aims to support sports who do not currently receive full UK Sport funding to develop plans to help teams and athletes realise ambitions for the Tokyo Games. Archery GB is delighted that its application to the Aspiration Fund has been successful and the additional £192,500 is vital investment in strengthening its existing medal support plan.
David Tillotson, Director of Sport at Archery GB, commented: Â"I'm pleased our application has been successful, it will enhance areas of our current medal support plan.
Â"The additional funding will be used to support athletes and help towards making it easier for them to train together and recover more effectively. We will look to increase coach time and further access to some of our existing specialists. The recent shared training camp with South Korea was extremely successful and something we plan to build on through international exposure and increasing our time with world leading archery nations.”
Archery GB is one of the 11 Olympic and Paralympic sports who came together around the concept that Every Sport Matters. The group called for a new approach to the investment into Olympic and Paralympic sport, this approach particularly highlighted the need to support more Olympic and Paralympic sports to produce role models to inspire communities.
Neil Armitage, CEO of Archery GB, commented: Â"I am delighted that the work we have done with the Every Sport Matters campaign has paid off and it's a very welcome move to increase the range of sports represented. Providing opportunities for increasing the number of athletes qualified and more medals won across more sports, should increase the range of aspirations for more people.
Â"We are passionate about archery and feel proud when new people take up our sport, through to our athletes standing on the podium. We'd like to thank the Government and UK Sport for recognising that there is a gap between grassroots and elite funding that needs bridging. We are confident our sport inspires and motivates more people to participate in archery through performances on the field, which ultimately has a positive social impact in local communities and individual's wellbeing.”
How much will each sport get?
The following table includes the breakdown of investments less the costs of running the programme.
|
Sport |
Award Amount (£) |
| Archery | 192,500 |
| Badminton | 259,679 |
| Beach Volleyball | 68,750 |
| Climbing | 192,500 |
| Fencing | 192,500 |
| Goalball | 125,000 |
| Karate | 68,750 |
| Skateboarding | 166,825 |
| Softball | 62,500 |
| Surfing | 192,500 |
| Artistic Swimming | 192,500 |
| Table Tennis | 275,000 |
| Weightlifting | 192,500 |
| Wheelchair Rugby | 500,000 |
| Unallocated Funds | 118,496 |
*£118,496 will be held by UK Sport to consider investments for sports to attend qualification events where appropriate, e.g. women's basketball.
