The growth enjoyed by judo is set to continue for the next four years as the British Judo Association have received funding for its grassroots and high performance programmes across the 2013-2017 cycle.

Sport England yesterday confirmed funding for grassroots judo of £6.1m over the next four years – a figure which represents a £3.8m reduction from the last period. The announcement follows a 33% increase for adult participation in the sport across the 2009-2013 measured by Sport England’s Active People Survey; however this missed stretch targets set out in the original plan.

This was followed by an announcement from UK Sport, backing High Performance judo with a total proposed  investment of over £8.8m in the build—up to the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio 2016, subject to the performance of the association in year one of the funding cycle.

British Judo’s Paralympic Visually Impaired programme received a 64% increase in funding over the last cycle, whilst the Olympic programme continues to receive a strong support with a commitment of £6.8m.

The investment follows British Judo’s success at London 2012 with two silver medals from Gemma Gibbons and Sam Ingram, along with bronze medals for Karina Bryant and Ben Quilter.

Acting Chief Executive, Andrew Scoular stated: “It’s good for the sport of judo to have received this level of commitment from two of our key funding partners and it will allow the association to build on the success and maintain the momentum gained from London 2012.

“Whilst we’re disappointed to receive a 40% reduction in funding from Sport England for the 2013-17 period, we acknowledge that we did not meet our original stretch targets for participation outlined in the 2009-2013 plan and therefore a reduction in the level of funding was not unexpected.

“What is positive is Sport England’s clear commitment to the sport by guaranteeing funding for the next four years. As a governing body we have been planning and preparing for every eventuality so we are confident we can deliver strong growth as highlighted in our whole sport plan and look to expand our funding across the period.

“UK Sport have increased the level of funding for our Visually Impaired programme and maintained a high-level of support for the Olympic programme – both of which will be vital in our ability to deliver medals moving forward.

“We’ll be working hard over the next year to prove ourselves and will be striving to follow-up our multi-medal winning Olympic and Paralympic performances with more success in Rio.”