Lisa Dobriskey suffered a blow this week with the news that she has lost her funding from British Athletics.

The Ashford AC star claimed silver in the 1,500m at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, having been Commonwealth champion in Melbourne three years earlier, but finished a disappointing 10th in the London 2012 Olympic final after battling back from injury.

She is among several big names to be affected by UK Sport’s decision to alter their criteria for awarding Lottery cash to athletes.

They include other world medallists, triple jumper Phillips Idowu, 110m hurdler Andy Turner and 800m runner Jenny Meadows.

The 29-year-old, who has battled against injury and adversity for the past two years, admitted the decision reduced her to tears.

She tweeted: “Sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and carry on.”

Dobriskey achieved the qualifying time for last August’s World Championships in Moscow at a meeting in Poland but suffered more heartache when she was injured during the trials in Birmingham.

She said: “I ruptured my plantar fascia (connecting tissue running from the bottom of the foot from the heel bone to the base of the toes).

“It’s been a long road back running again and am looking forward to next year.”

A spokesman for UK Sport, the body which distributes the funding, says they have narrowed its criteria, meaning only athletes considered realistic medal contenders for the Rio 2016 Olympics are eligible for ‘podium’ funding. The emphasis previously was on those likely to make the final."