Gilmour’s fury at badminton cash KO

COMMONWEALTH Games star Kirsty Gilmour has described UK Sport’s decision to cut off badminton’s funding for the next olympic cycle as ‘outrageous.’

the 23-year-old Scot won silver in Glasgow in 2014 before taking the same prize at the European Championships the following year.

She is still eyeing tokyo in 2020 despite struggling in Rio but admitted her task is now ‘much harder.’

She said: ‘that support has been so invaluable for me and it’s going to take a long time to get used to not having that funding.

‘It’s a horrible feeling that UK Sport don’t have confidence in our young and upcoming players.

‘I rely heavily on performance-based income, so the better I do at tournaments, the more prize money I get and my sponsors are really helpful.

‘UK Sport have been really good at taking care of my tournament programme and expenses. But with all of that funding now gone, it’s like I’m semi-redundant.

Badminton was one of five sports along with archery, fencing, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby to lose all funding.

Sports receive less funding if they fail to meet targets but badminton delivered its best performance since 2004 after Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge claimed bronze in the men’s doubles in Rio.

‘I think we were the only sport in history to have met our (pre-olympics) targets,’ said Gilmour, ranked 22nd in the world. ‘Now we’ve had funding completely cut, let alone reduced, it’s outrageous.

‘I feel bad for young players. Adam hall is one of the best Scottish talents and has just moved down to Milton Keynes (British Badminton’s HQ).’