Sheffield badminton and Team GB athlete Chloe Birch has spoken out against UK Sport’s decision to cut funding for badminton leading up to Tokyo 2020. Funding has been cut despite Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge winning bronze to secure Britain’s first men’s doubles medal at Rio this year. Badminton had its funding cut from £7.4m to £5.9m after London 2012, after no players managed the minimum fourth-to-eighth-placed finish that had been targeted. Yet despite the surprise success of Ellis and Langridge, the sport will not get a slice of the £345m of national lottery and government funding which UK Sport has announced will be invested over the next four years. Badminton England are appealing the decision and have started a petition on their website which has over ten thousand signatures. Our reporter Simon Thake spoke with Chloe Birch and Badminton Sheffield Chairman Alan Barber at the English Institute for Sport.