Archery GB, BaseballSoftballUK, British Basketball, British Fencing, British Handball, British Volleyball, British Weightlifting, British Wrestling, GB Badminton, GB Wheelchair Rugby and Table Tennis England have joined forces, claiming the current system has "disenfranchised many of the country's elite sportsmen and women" in the rigorous pursuit of medals.

A total investment of £345 million ($447 million/€391 million) will be made to 31 Olympic and Paralympic sports for the next Games.

This sum is £2 million ($2.6 million/€2.2 million) less than a record £347 million ($450 million/€394 million) allocated in the run-up to Rio 2016.

The call from the 11 organisations will represent the first challenge for incoming UK Sport chairperson Dame Katherine Grainger.

The London 2012 double sculls gold medallist starts her new job on Saturday (July 1) and is taking over from the former Royal Yachting Association chief executive Rod Carr, who stepped down in April.

According to BBC Sport, the 11 bodies claim in their manifesto that the system "has been conspicuously successful in winning medals, but has disenfranchised many of the country's elite sportsmen and women, creating a two-class system that runs counter to Olympic ideals".

"Providing opportunities for elite British athletes in all relevant sports to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics need not run counter to the pursuit of medals, and will make the nation even prouder of Great Britain's Olympic and Paralympic triumphs," it added.

"We call on Dame Katherine Grainger to recognise the dangers inherent in the current direction of travel.

"We urge UK Sport to recognise that medal targets alone should not be the sole criteria for its funding.

"We believe UK Sport should adopt a revised investment model that embraces every Olympic and Paralympic sport, with a tiered support structure".

Badminton was a surprising omission from the Tokyo funding list when it was announced in December after Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge claimed a bronze medal in the men's doubles at Rio 2016.

This exceeded the sport’s medal target for the Games.

Dame Katherine has acknowledged the call from the bodies for a new approach to investment in Olympic and Paralympic sport, but has reaffirmed UK Sport's position that they "cannot reach the sports who are furthest away from medal success".

“I really feel for the sports and athletes who have not been funded for the Tokyo cycle, particularly those that were funded in the Rio cycle as they are closer than others to having the potential to be there in Tokyo, which is every athlete’s dream," a statement from the 41-year-old, who also won four Olympic silver medals, said.

“As someone who has personally benefitted from National Lottery funding, I know how crucial it is to every athlete to enable them to be successful in their sport.

"It has completely transformed our sporting potential as a nation.

“All of these sports, UK Sport’s partners and the public were given the opportunity to input into the consultation on UK Sport’s investment strategy in 2014, well ahead of the Tokyo cycle getting underway, and the message was overwhelmingly that UK Sport should continue to focus on delivering medal success to inspire the nation.

“I will of course listen to these sports’ concerns, and UK Sport will go out to consultation again on its investment strategy for the 2024 cycle, but as things currently stand, as ever with finite investment, we simply cannot reach the sports who are furthest away from medal success.

“UK Sport runs a lean operation with 88 per cent of its investment benefitting sports and athletes, either directly via the world-class programme, or to fund their support services via the Insititutes, so to take the approach these sports are suggesting would mean taking away funding or expertise from athletes with greater chances of medal success.”

In February, UK Sport rejected appeals from seven sports which challenged their funding decisions for the 2020 Games.

Leaders of governing bodies for five Olympic sports - archery, badminton, fencing, table tennis and weightlifting, which had their funding cut entirely for the four-year cycle in December - all failed in their respective bids to overturn UK Sport's decision.

Goalball and wheelchair rugby were among three Paralympic sports that were hoping to successfully challenge UK Sport's verdict, but their efforts proved fruitless.

However, one change to the original funding decisions was made, with investment for powerlifting to be managed by British Weightlifting and not the English Institute of Sport.

UK Sport has set the British team a target of winning between 51 to 85 Olympic medals and 115 to 162 Paralympic medals at Tokyo 2020.

Britain finished second on the Olympic medals table at Rio 2016 with 27 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze.

The nation also finished second on the Paralympic table, securing 64 gold, 39 silver and 44 bronze medals.

This comes less than two weeks after UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl admitted that issues exposed in some sports over recent months are "very concerning", before insisting they are being addressed.

A review into the culture of British Cycling’s world-class performance programme concluded that some athletes had complained of a "lack of encouragement or support", while staff members referred to a "culture of fear in the organisation".

A recent report into the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association also claimed that a senior coach had been accused of racism.

Other sports have also been at the centre of allegations, including claims of bullying made to Paralympic squad members by an unnamed coach at British Swimming.

In March, the organisation launched an "independent fact-finding investigation" after the claims were made.

The investigation is ongoing.