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Up to 11 Olympic sports including athletics are expected to be handed funding cuts by UK Sport.

The group's board will meet on Tuesday to allocate the budget leading up to the London 2012 Olympics, and have to deal with a £79million funding shortfall.

It is almost certain they will follow a no-compromise approach meaning the money will be strictly targeted at those sports where medals are likely, rather than giving cash to other sports to make them more competitive.

Athletics, which underperformed in Beijing, is likely to have reduced funding but it will not be affected to the extent of expensive team sports such as handball, basketball, hockey and volleyball.

Fencing, shooting, table tennis, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling are also understood to be vulnerable, while almost all the Paralympic sports face having their income slashed.

UK Sport remain adamant that no exceptions will be made for athletics just because it is the most high-profile of the Olympic sports.

The funding gap has arisen because the Government's plan of attracting private sector investment has so far failed to bring in any money at all.

Both the British Olympic Association and the shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson have called on the Government to honour their original commitment to £100m a year for Olympic sports.

Robertson said there were a number of ways in which the Government could find the money, such as by changing Lottery tax rules, and said the importance of a successful British team in London could not be over-stressed.

He said: "This is a higher priority than expensive building projects around the Olympic Park.

"Fielding the best possible team is just about the most important priority for the whole Olympics - the public will judge the success of the Games on the number of British medals and not on how beautiful the roof on the swimming baths looks.''

Robertson claimed the attempt to raise the cash from the private sector was

always a non-starter because sponsors would not be entitled to use the Olympic rings or London 2012 logo.

There have been suggestions that the Treasury will agree an extra £20m, but that under the 2006 funding formula that would mean an eighth-place target in the medal table for Team GB rather than maintain the fourth place they won in Beijing.

Robertson said it would be "unacceptable'' for the team not to at least match the success of Beijing, but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) insist that whatever happens there will be more money for London than there was for Beijing.

A DCMS spokesman said: "There was a record amount of public funding for Beijing helping our Olympians and Paralympians' fantastic performance in finishing fourth and second in the medal tables respectively.

"The public funding package for elite athletes for London 2012 will be more than Beijing and we are continuing to work hard with UK Sport and Fast Track to raise additional funding from the private sector in a tough economic climate.''

Sporting Life / Eurosport