Rumgay, 26, was told last month that he was being cut and has since claimed in several interviews in the Scottish press that it was because he was not English.

Earlier this week he told the Daily Record: "I don’t think it’s a coincidence that myself and Adam Robertson of Wales were the two dropped whereas English guys below us were kept in.

"It happened at my performance review meeting and I instantly got a negative vibe.

"It was a massive blow.

"I’ve been full-time in Sheffield for two years, targeting 2012, but now I’m basically working my three months’ notice and after that, the funding is gone."

But Richard Yule, the chief executive of the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA), who are coordinating preparations for London 2012, hit back at Rumgay.

He told insidethegames: "Our funding comes from UK Sport and in recent times, that funding has been drastically cut.

"Due to those cuts, we have to make big spending cuts ourselves and we have recently had to release three top coaches from our Olympic training base in Sheffield.

"With regard to the players, our funding is distributed on a performance model that was agreed with UK Sport that aims to support potential British medalists for the London 2012 Games and the Rio 2016 Games.

"There was nothing personal in the decision to drop Gavin but in all honesty, if you are ranked number 268 in the world and you are already 26-years-old, it is difficult to argue that you are a potential medal prospect.

"We had to drop English players younger than Gavin who arguably had more Olympic medal winning potential.

"There is absolutely no pro-English bias in any of the decisions made as there are members from all four of the federations from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland involved in the decision making process.

"There was a higher ranked English player than Gavin who has had his funding cut as well as two highly ranked Welsh players.

"Paul Drinkhall, who is Britain’s number one and ranked 96 in the world when the funding was decided, has been offered funding as well as two 16-year-olds who are not ranked as highly as some of the players we have dropped but who we have identified as potential medal winning talents in the future.

"It is the performance model that dictates that the funding goes to these players and with the greatest will in the world, it is difficult to justify funding when there is little money to spend for any player ranked outside the top 250 who is not a junior.

"It is the same with tennis in that the world number 268 is unlikely to win Wimbledon.

"It is obviously possible but it is unlikely and therefore it does not justify funding them when funding is extremely tight."

Yule, who is Scottish himself, claimed he holds no animosity towards Rumgay despite his comments and admitted that he would like to see Scotland’s top player continue to train in Sheffield.

He said: "We are happy for Gavin and the other players to come to Sheffield and play and train there free of charge.

"The fact that you are not part of the Development Squad does not prevent you from going to London 2012 and we hope that all the players that have had their funding cut receive home country support and continue to play in the tournaments to improve their ranking to give themselves a chance at competing in London."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]