DENHOLME weightlifter Rebekah Tiler is still coming to terms with the seismic news that her sport has lost its UK Sport funding for the Tokyo Olympics.

The 17-year-old came tenth in Rio this summer and is hoping to make the podium in four years’ time.

She admitted the funding withdrawal was “a huge shock” while British Weight Lifting’s chief executive Ashley Metcalfe said the governing body were “shocked and devastated” at the news.

Weightlifting is one of five sports to have their all their financial support from UK Sport pulled for the four-year cycle up to 2020, along with archery, fencing, badminton and wheelchair rugby.

Exactly how the lack of money will impact the former Bingley Grammar School and Calderdale College student – who made the BBC Young Sports Personality top ten shortlist for a fourth successive year but again missed out on the final three – is unclear at this stage but she has been training full-time.

She said: “British Weight Lifting have won about 50 individual medals globally (Commonwealth, Europeans or World) over the past 12 months and I thought they were going in the right direction.

“I have been going to Loughborough University on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (for ten sessions a week), and the funding cuts will make a big difference.

“But at least I don’t have a flat down there like one of the athletes, which she will now have to sell.”

Tiler’s coach Eddie Halstead, who is part of British Weight Lifting’s high-performance coaching set-up, is equally unsure of the ramifications.

But he revealed: “It is only the athletes who have lost their funding, not the coaches, but it was still a massive shock as Rebekah was stopping in a hotel down there.

“It might mean that I will take Rebekah down to Loughborough with me rather than her family having to stump up the money for a two-hour car journey there and back.

“She could fit in three sessions there all day Friday and Saturday morning, working round her dad Chris’ job.

“Ashley Metcalfe says that another option is that she doesn’t go to Loughborough at all but that I train her early morning and evening at Mytholmroyd so that she could still get her ten sessions a week in that way.

“Her funding doesn’t run out until March though, so she should still be in really good condition for the European Championships (at Split in Croatia from April 1-9).

“She has also lost Herbalife as a sponsor but still has butcher Ian Hewitt from Riddlesden.

“British Weight L ifting are currently working out the best way to spend their money.”

In a statement, Metcalfe said: “The sport of weightlifting in the UK is on an upwards trajectory and our performance on the international stage is increasing.

"The sport is continuing to grow and we have been particularly successful in identifying and developing female talent, including a world-class programme squad of six athletes currently training full-time at Loughborough, including Rebekah and fellow Olympian and current Commonwealth Games champion Zoe Smith.

"Through a continued evolution of our high performance structure, medals at Tokyo 2020 were a realistic target for this squad which, given UK Sport's ambition to deliver more medals, reinforces the short-sightedness of this decision.

"We recognise that funding challenges exist throughout sport, but believe that UK Sport's approach of removing all funding for tier-four sports will increase the disparity between the larger professional sports and the minority, largely amateur sports, which will be difficult to bridge in the future.

"We have taken significant steps to be more independent of grant funding and attract additional commercial revenues but this move is effectively curtailing the true potential of our sport.

"We are not proposing that UK Sport jeopardise British medal success. However, we cannot understand why our funding request was rejected given the evidence presented.

"British Weight Lifting will look to explore all options regarding an appeal of this decision."

Tiler, who is targeting both the World Junior (June 16-23 in Tokyo) and World Senior championships (October 17-25 in Penang, Malaysia) next year, has been training at Mytholmroyd Community Centre for some five weeks now it is back in commission following the Boxing Day floods.

She has had a busy autumn, picking up two silvers and a bronze medal at the World Youth Championships in Penang in October.

"That was better than last year when I picked up a silver and two bronzes, but I had little time to prepare after taking three weeks off after the Olympics," said Tiler.

She made five of her six lifts in Penang, totalling 217kg in the 69kg category after 96kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk.

Rebekah, who is competing in the English Championships at Milton Keynes on January 21-22 to try and qualify for the Europeans, added: "Because of the World Youths, I missed the Olympic parades in Manchester and London, but I did get to the one in Leeds, which was great."

Rugby union's Keelan Giles, Paralympic swimmer Ellie Robinson and gymnast Amy Tinkler were the chosen trio for the BBC Young SPOTY prize, with the award due to be presented last night ahead of Sunday's main event.