On 19 December 2016, GBWR notified its intention to make representation to the UK Sport Board about its decision not to fund wheelchair rugby for the Tokyo cycle. In line with the procedure for making such a representation, GBWR will submit its written representation by 5pm on Tuesday 17 January. The criteria set by UK Sport for the purposes of such representation is that there should be significant new facts that the UK Sport Board did not consider when it made its decision, which shows with evidence that wheelchair rugby should have been placed into a higher merit band, which in turn may have attracted investment.
GBWR has worked with Professor Tolfrey Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University, and Dr Viola Altmann, Classifier of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation and researcher at the Sint Maartenskliniek Rehabilitation Centre, Netherlands, and GBWR’s legal partner Tim Reid, at Hogan Lovells to prepare its representation and is confident that it has a very strong case for the UK Sport Board to reconsider its decision not to invest in wheelchair rugby for the Tokyo cycle.
David Pond
Chief Executive
16 January 2017
