Olympic shooting budget slashed by 80%

Team GB?s shooting?s allocation has been slashed by £3.84million, forcing the original 46 funded athletes to be cut to 10 or so.

A total of eight Olympic sports, including water polo and handball, have had funding slashed because of a £50million budget shortfall.

UK Sport chairman, Sue Campbell, defended the decision: ?The past few months have not been easy for anyone, and the decisions we have taken have been tough. But I firmly believe we have done the best we can to deliver for all sports while remaining true to our core responsibility of driving medal success.?

British Shooting claims UK Sport has reduced the budget by a further £250,000 more than their expected cut without explanation.

British Shooting?s chairman, Philip Boakes, told Shooting Times the news is a real blow to the sport: ?The cut is very disappointing, as British Shooting is determined to win medals for Great Britain in 2012, and the sport has a wealth of young talent coming through that needs developing. We will, however, continue to work with whatever resource we have to the best of our ability. Shooting has a great record of winning medals for this country.?