The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) last month voted to reinstate ID athletes into the Paralympic Games, although the sports that will take part still have to be confirmed.

Steele revealed that UK Sport will wait until ID athletes have been allocated sports - and the relevant bodies decide on what will be Britain's most likely source of success for them at 2012 – before distributing funding. 

Steele said: "The reason we can’t allocate [the budgets for ID athletes] at the moment is that it's not yet clear what the disciplines and sports the ID athletes will compete in.

"I think the principle that we would support is that we need to be clearer on where the targeted funding should go and we hope we will have more clarity on that in the next year.

"Then we can then look to correctly allocate the funds we have in place."

Steele also claimed that funds were readily available for ID athletes despite the fact that their inclusion at the London 2012 Paralympics was a late addition to the programme.

He said: "We can always expect change.

"The nature of sport is that different disciplines will be introduced and there will be changes in the structure of competition and we have to be able to adapt and adjust as best as we can and that is what we have done in the instance of the introduction of ID athletes."

On the whole; today’s UK Sport's Annual Review revealed good news for a number of Paralympic Sports, particularly the more minor ones.

Fencing, goalball, women’s wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis - the only four Paralympic Sports that receive less than £1 million in funding from UK Sport - all saw their funding double while many of the top sports received similar funding to the ones to which they were already allocated.

Unsurprisingly, swimming receives the most funding after huge British success this year and will receive £9,875,700 over the next four years from 2009.

Athletics was in second place with £6,522,400 while cycling, equestrian and men's wheelchair basketball can all expect to receive over £3 million over the same period based on the fact that they are considered Britons’ more successful sports and biggest medal prospects at London 2012.

UK Sport is targeting a second placed finish in the Paralympic medal table at London 2012.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].


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