HARROW Council is close to agreeing for an Olympic squad to come to the borough for the London 2012 Olympics.

An “in-principle” agreement has been signed between the council and the Bangladesh Olympic Association, meaning they would stay and train in Harrow during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Officials from the country took a two-day tour around Harrow in November last year, and have now selected the area to use as a base.

Councillor Golam Chowdhury, (Cons/Greenhill) who is from Bangladesh, made trips to his home country to seal the deal, and said: “Harrow of course has a long standing Bangladeshi community, but the officials were clearly impressed by the package of training facilities they saw here.

“We're confident Harrow has a very strong proposition as a host to visiting athletes."

The athletes will be using Harrow Leisure Centre, Harrow School, Hatch End swimming pool, Kodak Zoom Leisure Centre, the Bannister Sports Ground, and The Aspire Centre in Stanmore for training during the games.

Councillor Chris Mote, in charge of cultural services, said: "It is a tremendous coup for us to sign this in-principle agreement with the Bangladesh Olympic Association.

“We are convinced they will find Harrow a superb place to train and prepare and look forward to working with Bangladeshi officials in the coming months."