Brit Olympians face fund cut if they fail to return with enough medals

London, Aug.6 : Britain's Olympic athletes may have their funding cut if they do not return from Beijing with enough medals.

The Sun quoted the country's Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, as saying that he wanted Team Great Britain to achieve the 41-medal target set by UK Sport, or he would be looking to slash the money athletes receive.

The British team have had their best cash backing ever in the run-up to the Games.

"If you look at it from public finance, we've put 500-million pounds into elite sports. Public investment needs a return. If we came well short of that 41-medal haul we'd be very concerned. It wasn't a target that we put to UK Sport, UK Sport themselves decided that's what we should expect. We will have a review looking at those sports that have been successful and those that haven't," Sutcliffe said.

ANI