A Croatian Paralympic hopeful training in Surrey has urged people to snap up London 2012 tickets which go on sale today, Friday 9th September.

Swimmer Dino Sinovcic, from Split, spent the week training at Surrey Sports Park, in Guildford, as part of his preparations for the Paralympic Games.

Yesterday he was joined poolside by Surrey County Councillor Ian Lake shortly after the Cabinet Member gave a speech to around 200 business people about the London 2012 opportunities available to local firms.

Mr Sinovcic, 19, said: "Surrey Sports Park is a beautiful facility and everything is new. The training sessions here give us all we need and the people are very kind. I would say people should go and see the Paralympic events. The swimming will be very interesting so buy tickets and enjoy." Mr Lake said: "It's incredibly exciting to have world class athletes training in Surrey as they prepare for London 2012. We've got a number of nations signed up to train at excellent facilities like Surrey Sports Park, including Nigeria and the Australian cycling team.

"Tickets for the Paralympic Games go on sale on Friday and I would urge everyone to apply. It would be great to watch Dino competing for a medal after watching him train. I hope rubbing shoulders with Olympic and Paralympic athletes will inspire residents, especially young people, to get involved in sport."

Paul Blanchard, Surrey Sports Park Chief Executive, said: "It's been great to accommodate Dino this week as he continues his preparations in the hope to represent Croatia at the London 2012 Paralympics and we wish him the best of luck. He joins an ever growing list of athletes who have trained at Surrey Sports Park ahead of London 2012, and with more teams and athletes set to train here in the coming months the excitement is certainly starting to build ahead of next summer's big event."

Surrey County Council has been working hard with its partners, including Surrey Sports Park, to attract Olympic and Paralympic nations to the county. Each nation has the opportunity to receive up to £25,000 from London 2012 organisers to spend on training which will benefit Surrey if nations choose to train in the county.