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Friday, 16 February 2007, 00:43 GMT

Boxing to get Woodward overhaul

By Tom Fordyce

Sir Clive Woodward Two more British sports are ready to fall into line with strict new funding criteria as the race for Olympic medals in London 2012 gathers pace.

Both boxing and basketball have previously had funding withheld because of issues with how they were being run.

But now Sir Clive Woodward will work with the Amateur Boxing Association on its new performance management group.

And Woodward's former Rugby Football Union colleague Chris Spice is part of a new body overseeing basketball.

The appointments are part of a funding revolution sweeping British sport ahead of the Beijing and London Olympics.

With the pressure on to deliver medals, UK Sport - the body responsible for handing out National Lottery funds - has set each sport's governing body strict performance targets.

UK SPORT FUNDING, 2006-7


Woodward, the British Olympic Association's director of elite performance, will work with the ABA for at least one day a month - and may also take up a similar role with the British Judo Association.

Liz Nicholl, UK Sport's director of performance, said: "We're putting significant support into sports which have serious medal chances, and Clive has the competencies to drive the performance plan in boxing."

Spice, who resigned as performance director of the RFU last April, will be part of a four-man board in charge of British Performance Basketball Ltd.

Basketball in Britain has not previously had a single governing body, which has cost it millions of pounds in Lottery funding.

Under UK Sport's rules, any governing body that fails to show that it is running its sport efficiently and successfully - ie producing as many current and future medallists as possible, without wasting resources - has its funding held back.

Nicholl said: "We have sufficient resources to chase every medal that can be won.

"But we also have a duty to ensure that the investment is being made to work as hard as possible.

"We know that effective governance leads to effective performance - that's why we intervene in the way we do.

"We are unashamed in challenging sports to perform better and in taking tough decisions."

The BOA has previously come under fire for setting what its critics consider an overly-optimistic a target of fourth place in the overall medal table at the London Olympics.




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Related to this story:

Companies to help Olympic sports (14 Feb 07 |  Olympics 2012 )
Woodward focused on Olympic glory (29 Sep 06 |  Olympics 2012 )
British Olympics job for Woodward (06 Sep 06 |  Other Sport... )

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