British Basketball is to receive £1.18 million in funding from Sport England over the next three years, Sports Minister Helen Grant announced yesterday.

The money will be used to support the senior men’s and women’s teams as well as the Under-20s programmes, with British Basketball agreeing to contribute £592,000 itself through reserves and generated income.

The funding will go some way to plugging the huge gaps created when UK Sport withdrew all funding from British Basketball earlier this year, although it is still well short of the sort of budget afforded to the team in the years either side of the London Olympics.

UK Sport withdrew all funding from British Basketball earlier this year due to its strict focus on sports which have a chance of delivering medals at the next two Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio and Tokyo, but the decision brought strong criticism from some quarters with the system seen to be skewed against team sports which are expensive and offer limited medal opportunities compared to other events.

UK Sport has since announced a consultation on its future strategy.

As part of the new funding agreement, UK Sport will provide British Basketball with technical expertise regarding talent scouting and developing, coaching, sports science, medicine and technology.

British Basketball performance chairman Roger Moreland said: “This announcement is very welcome and we thank the Minister for her role in brokering a solution. We also thank Sport England for their investment and UK Sport for contributing their expertise.

“The role played by the Basketball all party parliamentary group chaired by Sharon Hodgson has been invaluable during this process. Many commentators in the media have been supportive as has the basketball community and the public at large. We thank them all for their support during a challenging period.”

The men’s senior team failed to qualify for next summer’s European Championships — the first time they have missed out since appearing in the 2009 tournament — the women booked their place and this funding announcement is a vital part of making sure they can make the trip in a position to compete.