Great Britain's Kieron Achara reveals £15-a-day struggle

Great Britain forward Kieron Achara says he and his team-mates are living on £15 a day as they try to reach the European Championships.

He also says that funding cuts mean some players are having to sleep in beds that are not big enough for them.

Ahead of Wednesday's match against Iceland, Achara outlined what UK Sport's decision to strip all Olympic funding earlier this year has meant.

"It has been a battle mentally as well as physically," he said.

"We didn't know exactly what the extent of the sacrifice was going to be.

"We are getting £15 a day. We are sleeping in dorm beds. We've had some guys whose feet were dead when they woke up because they had been hanging out of the end of the bed."

Achara said the team are forced to take early-morning flights on budget airlines the day after late-night matches in order to cut costs.

A training camp set up as preparation for the present qualification campaign was also cut by a week in another attempt to save money.

British Basketball performance chairman Roger Moreland said funding losses have resulted in a 50% cut in expenditure from last year's £1.8m.

"We have made efficiencies until we can't make any more," he said. "We are in an overdraft situation."

Following last week's defeat by Bosnia, Britain must beat Group A rivals Iceland at the Copper Box in London to stand any chance of reaching EuroBasket 2015, which is due to be held in Ukraine.

Britain have already lost to Iceland in the three-team group.