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The Wellington-based New Zealand Academy of Sport Central is poised to disappear following a review of high-performance sports by the Government's funding agency, Sparc.
It means support for both elite and potential elite athletes in the area will come from the Auckland-based North academy after Sparc decided it preferred only two academies, one Auckland-based and the other in Dunedin.
"Sparc today advised the Wellington-based high-performance sports academy it would not be entering into negotiations for the allocation of future government funds through the entity," a statement from the Central academy said.
Sparc has provided contract funding to the Central academy since 2000.
The joint statement from the chairman of the Central academy Paul Shields and chief executive John Freer indicated the academy - which supports athletes from Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu and Wellington - faced an uncertain future.
"Obviously we are very disappointed with this result," Shields said. "The role of our entity is to support New Zealand's high-performance athletes and their coaches - this being to ensure they achieve at international competition."
The funding which has come to Central will now be channelled through Auckland if the North academy can complete the requirements determined by Sparc.
The decision to reduce the number of academies was announced in August last year as part of Sparc's high-performance strategy 2006-2012.
"One of Sparc's primary goals is to deliver the best service possible for sport in New Zealand, thereby giving New Zealand's top sports people the greatest opportunity to excel," general manager sector development Peter Miskimmin said. "A two-region system helps us attain that goal by reducing complexity and increasing efficiency and collaboration across the NZAS regional operations."
- NZPA
