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UK Sport chief executive John Steele believes its “no-compromise” approach to funding will pay dividends at the London 2012 Olympics.

At the start of last year, the organisation slashed the budgets of eight sports – including volleyball, fencing, water polo and wrestling – deemed unlikely to win a medal in London.

Steele said: “Our targets for 2012 are ambitious and we need to ensure that every penny at our disposal counts.

“We take a no-compromise approach in order to maximise medal success but equally want to ensure all sports can achieve their ambitions in London.

“The post-Games period [after Beijing 2008] can often be a time of consolidation and, as a result, not necessarily the best in terms of performance.

“However, that trend was bucked in spectacular fashion in 2009 with 43 medals won at World and European level in Olympic disciplines and 149 in Paralympic.”

A cash boost of £6.5m last year from Visa, who became Team 2012 sponsors, enabled UK Sport to reinstate funding to seven of the eight sports which had lost money, with only table tennis missing out.

“It is not always easy in a difficult economic climate, but boosted by Visa’s involvement in Team 2012, and with the continued support we receive from government and the National Lottery, we ended the year by providing the financial certainty our sports need to build momentum as London edges ever nearer,” he added.

“Economic challenges remain and sport cannot operate in a bubble from these. Furthermore, a likely election will bring the political landscape more into the spotlight.

“One thing we can be sure of is that our competitors will be seeking to up their game so we must ensure we continue to do the same.

“However, we enter 2010 in great shape and the expertise, determination and sheer quality we have throughout the high performance system in the UK provides me with huge confidence going forward.”