Olympic body pledges support to LTA

The Lawn Tennis Association wants to boost its chances of success in the build up to London 2012 (GETTY IMAGES)

UK Sport is to assist British tennis after revealing the sport will become the 28th to submit itself to their scrutiny ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

The Lawn Tennis Association has approached the body responsible for overseeing the majority of the country's Olympic disciplines in a bid to boost its chances of success in the build up to the London Games. UK Sport confirmed the news at its Mission 2012 progress briefing yesterday as it claimed British Olympic and Paralympic sports had never been better placed to succeed with just over two years to go before the Games. Outgoing chief executive John Steele said: "It's about everyone being open and honest about where they think they are, what challenges need to be satisfied. And that's why tennis have now said, 'We want to be in the Mission 2012 process.'"

Director of performance Peter Keen said tennis would be subject to the same scrutiny as the 27 other sports he currently oversees. UK Sport employs a traffic-light system in which Olympic and Paralympic disciplines that meet their targets are rated green, with the rest tagged amber or red depending on the seriousness of the challenges. Britain finished fourth in the Olympic medals table at the 2008 Beijing Games, and second in the Paralympic table.