A DEAF swimmer who dreams of winning medals for Britain has been left high and dry because the government will not fund deaf athletes.

Daniel Voss has been selected to swim for Britain in the 50m and 100m freestyle at this year’s Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan.

But instead of training hard, he must throw his efforts into raising cash to buy a plane ticket and a hotel room.

This is because UK Sport, a state quango, has re-directed £42,000 away from UK Deaf Sport and given it to the £9billion London 2012 Olympics project.

Daniel, 24, swims in the Waltham Forest team. He said he feels let down by the leaders of the country he is proud to represent.

“I couldn’t believe I got selected two weekends ago,” he said. “Then I was gutted to find out I must fund myself. We all train hard and to a high standard.

“Not to be treated equally is unfair. I want to be treated fairly. To take away the cash means there could be a lot of dreams shattered, and not just my own.”

Now, profoundly deaf Daniel, of Byron Close in South Woodford, has to raise £3,000 if he is to stand any chance of winning gold for Britain in September against rival swimmers who get state subsidies.

His plight is even more acute because he was only selected for the team late last month, and the cash must be paid by the end of April.

A global recession just magnifies the size of the task.

“It’s a burden to have while I’m training. I want to focus on training,” he said.

A spokeswoman at the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport said the cash has been re-routed to ensure a top two finish in the 2012 medal table for TeamGB.

“Difficult funding decisions have to be made. With its remit now fully focused on achieving this target, UK Sport has directed its limited public funding accordingly and is now no longer able to provide funds to UK Deaf Sport.

“We welcome the substantial funds pledged by donors to UK Deaf Sport in recent months and remain optimistic about them being able to attend the games in Taipei.”

If you want to help Daniel to achieve his dream, contact him at: gbdsc@hotmail.co.uk.