Eight Olympic and four Paralympic sports, including handball, wrestling and water polo, are to see their funding cut in the run up to London 2012 following a £50m shortfall in private sector investment.

In December, UK Sport revealed details of which sports are to receive a share of £292m as part of a 'no compromise' investment strategy, designed to target events most likely to provide medal success in four years time. The twelve remaining sports will now have to share the remaining £11.2m A further £1.8m will also be made available following an agreement with the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, managed by SportsAid, and UK Sport has revealed that sports will be offered the chance to receive their four-year funding within the next two years to maximise the impact of the cash injection.

Meanwhile, UK Sport is working with a number of organisations, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the British Olympic Association (BOA), on ways to attract potential sponsors. UK Sport chair, Sue Campbell, said: "The past few months have not been easy for anyone, and the decisions we have taken have been tough. But I firmly believe we have done the best we can to deliver for all sports while remaining true to our core responsibility of driving medal success."

David Sparkes, chief executive of British Swimming, has revealed that water polo is to see a 50 per cent reduction in funding. He said: "We are clearly concerned for the athletes who have already made massive commitments to the water polo programme, and British Swimming will be working with everyone to bridge the gap in funding."