Achara Speaks Out About Funding Cut Struggle

By Bradley Gains on August 20, 2014

Great Britain Senior Men’s co-captain Kieron Achara has revealed the harsh realities of the funding setback in an interview with BBC Sport.

Achara explained the mental and physical strain the players are dealing with as a result of GB having to cut costs following UK Sport’s decision to withdraw all funding earlier this year.

“We didn’t know exactly what the extent of the sacrifice was going to be,” said Achara. “It has been a battle mentally as well as physically.”

“We are getting £15 a day and it worked out about £90 before (the funding cuts). All the little things have been adding up. The camp starting late really hit home about changed times.”

He jumped on Twitter after the BBC Sport story was being widely spread on social media to explain he is not making excuses:

I just want to the GB basketball community to know I’m not making excuses. We as players have to do a better job on the court. #letsgoGB

— Kieron Achara (@KieronAchara) August 20, 2014

Roger Moreland also revealed that the programme is in an overdraft situation having seen the budget halved from £1.8m to around £900,000, with huge question marks remaining on whether or not the high performance federation will be able to continue after this year.

GB face a must-win game against Iceland tonight at the Copper Box (7:35pm tip, BT Sport 1) in their third game of the 2015 EuroBasket qualifiers.

The future is unclear and a loss against Iceland would be a hammer blow.

Watch the full interviews over at BBC Sport.

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