Following the publication of the funding submission "A Sporting Chance for 2012", UK Sport reassured those sports that had expressed their concerns about the potential for exclusion from funding support under one of the funding options, labelled 'No Compromise'.
UK Sport moved this week to inform those sports that, regardless of which option is chosen, work is already on-going to identify all athletes with genuine medal potential and that no-one with the talent to stand on the podium in 2012 would be omitted from their plans, should sufficient funding be made available.
Alex Murdoch, Chairman of the English Table Tennis Association, admitted that, whilst at first he was apprehensive about what the proposed funding agreement had in store for his sport, he had been reassured that no athlete would be overlooked if they were considered a medal-winning prospect.
"Like other sports, when UK Sport released their publication I had grave concerns in respect of Option 3 where the proposals did not include a number of sports, including table tennis, and emphasised this as the "No Compromise" Option," said Murdoch.
"However, following discussions with Liz Nicholl, the Director of Performance at UK Sport and others involved in the planning process, my concerns have been alleviated after being given a clear understanding that table tennis players' performances after winning medals at World and European cadet level, will not go unrecognised as a stepping stone towards the Olympics in 2012."
"It is clear now that the no compromise approach will support athletes with medal potential," he added.