Loser! Bradley Saunders says he’s glad he lost, so he can get back to his family... (P.S. They were at ringside!)

The light-welterweight, a supposed medal contender who has received around £140,000 of taxpayers' and Lottery money in the past two years, crashed to defeat against Frenchman Alexis Vastine and immediately said he was relieved to be leaving the pressures of Beijing to be with his wife and children.

'It's a weight off my shoulders. Now I know I haven't got a medal,' he said.

'There's so much pressure on here, what with the training and not seeing the family. Anyone who works away from home will tell you they don't like being away. Now I can live a normal boy's life for a while.'

Slap in the face: Bradley Saunders from Sedgefield can¿t wait to get home after his costly Beijing flop

His remarks were all the more extraordinary given that his mother and other family members were at ringside, and heaped embarrassment on the boxers, who have received £5million from UK Sport, following the farcical exit of Frankie Gavin, who failed to make the weight and flew home.

Dejected: Saunders can;t wait to leave the ring after losing to Vastine

It comes a day after British tennis No 1 Andy Murray confessed that he was 'unprofessional' and underprepared, and undermined boasts by GB sports bosses that this was 'our best prepared team ever'.

Badminton medal hopes Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson also crashed out yesterday and the campaign of swimmer Mark Foster - the flag-bearer - ended in 22.35 seconds when he finished 23rd overall in the 50m freestyle heats.

Cabinet minister Andy Burnham bragged recently that the tripling of funding for elite sport since Athens 2004 had presented Team GB with a great chance of a record medal haul.

Funding for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games was a record £265m compared to £84m in Athens and £63m in Sydney 2000.

UK Sport, the Government agency in charge of elite sport since 1997, is funded by a mix of Exchequer and Lottery income.

It manages and distributes more than £100m a year and set the Beijing boxers a target of two medals.

From the eight-man team, only four remain.

For the Games overall, it has set a target of 35-41 medals and eighth place in the table, which would be the best in a non-boycotted Olympics since Antwerp in 1920.

The day had begun badly with welterweight Billy Joe Saunders, no relation, well beaten 13-6 by world-class Cuban Carlos Banteaux. It closed with Bradley Saunders losing 11-7 to a Frenchman he had outpointed 30-12 in Chicago at last year's World Championships. 

In contrast, light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries scrapped his way into a quarter-final on countback after a 5-5 draw with Colombian Eleider Alvarez then said: 'I've been dreaming of a medal since I was six. I've been dreaming of the Olympics all my life, I suppose.

'I didn't want to let anyone down. The messages of support I've been getting are keeping me going.' Jeffries faces Hungarian Imre Szello in the last eight, while Bradley Saunders faces a night in front of his telly.