Welsh world champions may not have funds to defend title

THEY may be double world champions but Wales Deaf team face an uphill task to defend their title in Japan next November.

- STEFFAN THOMAS

Wales Deaf, both the men's and women's team, were crowned world champions in Argentina in 2023 despite staying in poor quality accommodation which they branded as "unacceptable" at the time.

But they defied the odds and are the only Welsh rugby sides who are currently world champions.

They are desperate to defend both titles but to do so they will have to raise £150,000 to fund the trip to Japan without any funding from the Welsh Government or Welsh Rugby Union.

"We are currently the double defending world champions at both mens and womens but we have to raise a significant sum of money if we want to make it out to Tokyo next November," Wales Deaf team manager Lee Llewellyn told us.

"For both it is going to work out at roughly £4.5k per person.

"There'll be a total of 35-40 going in total.

"There'll probably be more but they'll have to fund themselves.

"We can only raise enough to fund a core group of people.

"We have previously approached the WRU for some help.

"We have had a meeting with the WRU but they politely said they were unable to help and support.