The new support fund, managed by The Lansdowne Club, will allow British fencers to attend A-grade international fencing competitions such as Grand Prix and World Cup events and take their preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games to the highest level.

Ziemek Wojciechowski, coach to the British Olympic team, said: "Getting our best fencers to top international level takes many years of hard work, but it also requires financial help from companies like BW Cutters.

"Unless our fencers can refine their skills by competing against the cream of the world, achieving Olympic gold will only ever be a dream.

"Thanks to this fund that dream really can become a reality, and our goal is to have a British fencer on the top step of the podium in 2012."

National foil champion, 27-year-old Richard Kruse, is currently ranked fourth in the world and is Britain's best hope for an Olympic medal for decades.

Fencing is one of only four sports that have been featured in every modern Olympic Games, beginning in 1896.