Kent to host Barbados 2012 team

The Barbados team will train in Medway before the Paralympic Games

Paralympic athletes from Barbados will train in Kent before the 2012 Games.

The Paralympic Association of Barbados has signed a training camp agreement with Medway Council and the South England Development Agency (Seeda).

The Barbados team will train at the £11m Medway Park site. Medway said it thought it was the first council in the South East to sign such an agreement.

Medway Council and Seeda will help the association develop its disability sports coaching and expertise.

'Spirit of cooperation'

Councillor Howard Doe said Medway Park would be a "first-class facility" for the Barbados team.

"We very much look forward to working together in a spirit of sporting cooperation over the next three years and beyond," he added.

Barbados, which hopes to bring a small team to the 2012 Paralympic Games, is keen to gain access to coaching and sports science expertise.

Discussions concerning a possible partnership were initiated during the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Wesley Worrell, president of the Paralympic Association of Barbados, visited Medway on Monday to examine the training and support facilities located there.

'Future growth'

Mr Worrell said: "It was a pleasure to visit Medway and see all the progress and expectations that are planned and it was so inspiring to see the team's excitement."

He added that he looked forward to "future growth" between the two countries.

Medway Council said Barbados was the third country to sign an agreement with Seeda but the other two, Columbia and Malawi, had yet to decide where they would be based.

Medway Park, built on the site of Gillingham's Black Lion Leisure Centre, has been approved as a training site for eight Paralympic sports and 13 Olympic sports.

The site is scheduled for completion in 2010 and will include an eight-lane athletics track, an accessible health and fitness suite and an on-site sports science and therapy centre run by the University of Kent.