British Basketball Decide Against Fighting Funding Cut

British Basketball have conceded defeat in their funding battle and have decided against launching a formal appeal against UK Sport’s decision to withdraw funding from the sport.

UK Sport announced in February that it was cutting basketball’s funding to zero having determined that it stood little prospect of winning medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

British Basketball made representations to the UK Sport board in March and considered its options after the decision was reaffirmed.

“Having taken legal advice, it became clear that whilst there may be a case for an appeal, the costs associated with making that case successfully had to be considered alongside other matters, such as delivering on the commitment made to enter national teams into European Championships,” a statement said.

“As a result of that process, British Basketball has decided that it will not submit an appeal to the SDRP (Sports Dispute Resolution Panel) against the UK Sport decision to withdraw funding.”

Performance chairman Roger Moreland said British Basketball would continue to fund both the men’s and women’s senior teams during the EuroBasket qualifying process as well as maintaining the Under-20 programme which has focused on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“We have been faced with making difficult decisions because the funding decision has made our situation challenging,” Moreland said.

“As well as giving the senior teams the chance to qualify for next year’s EuroBasket finals, it is equally important to give the next generation more international experience and that is why the case for the under-20 teams has been prioritised above off court issues.”