UK Sport officials "came out fighting" and said that "it would have been a waste of taxpayers’ money to invest in basketball," according to Broadbent & Burrows of the LONDON TIMES. It was confirmed Wednesday that basketball, women’s water polo and synchronised swimming would receive no funding for the 2016 Rio Olympics. As a result, British Swimming CEO David Sparkes "called for a Government review of the funding system for elite sport." British Basketball Performance Chair Roger Moreland "suggested that the funding system as it stands contains an implicit bias against team sports." Moreland: “Winning medals now and in the future should be celebrated, but we need to consider its impact. Basketball has a grassroots base bigger than any other British Olympic team sport. A funding system with nearly £350 million pounds available for elite sport cannot be working to the best of its ability, if it can leave sports like basketball behind.” However, UK Sport Chair Rod Carr "denied that there was any gender or class bias in any of the decisions, and said basketball, the most controversial loser, simply had no chance of winning a medal by 2024." Carr: “To carry it [funding] through to 2024 would amount to £33 million,” he said of the decision on basketball. “That’s a lot of public money with no certainty of qualifying, let alone winning a medal" (LONDON TIMES, 3/20).
