Medway Park, Medway’s new £11m regional centre of sporting excellence, has been approved as a training camp for Paralympic teams as they prepare for the London Games in 2012.

It will be listed for eight Paralympic sports in the official training camp guide being unveiled during the Beijing Paralympic Games in September, including wheelchair rugby, judo and athletics.

Medway Council is determined that Medway Park will be fully inclusive, allowing everyone to enjoy competitive sport and keep healthy.

Facilities in the redeveloped Black Lion leisure centre will include specialist new lifts and changing rooms suitable for wheelchair athletes.

The council’s Sports Development Team is working with clubs to develop further disability sections. Medway also runs a successful Disability Youth Games with Paralympic legends Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Danny Crates as patrons.

Medway Park has already been included by LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the 2012 Games) in its official guide to pre-Olympic training camp guide for 13 different Olympic sports, making it the seventh biggest approved multi-sport training facility in the country.

Its inclusion in the Paralympic sister publication is further good news for Medway’s 2012 campaign.

Paralympic 800m champion and Medway International Sporting Ambassador Danny Crates said: “I’m delighted that Medway Park has been approved as a training base for Paralympic teams ahead of London 2012.

“The provision of high-quality, fully-accessible facilities highlights Medway’s long-term commitment to promoting disability sport before, during and long after 2012.”

The council’s leisure chief, Cllr Howard Doe, said: “This is great news for Medway and for the council’s mission to make the most of the 2012 Games in London. The approval from the organising committee indicates that we are well on the way to creating the high-class sporting facilities the people of Medway deserve.”