Winchester has become one of the first towns in Britain to publicly put itself forward as a training base for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

Several cities and towns in the United Kingdom benefited from teams from abroad using their facilities to train for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Several have already begun making preparations to market themselves to some of the 70 nations and territories expected to compete at Birmingham 2022. 

A new sports and leisure centre is due to be completed in Winchester - a city in Hampshire located 131 miles south of Birmingham - in 2021.

"Through hosting an overseas team, the Commonwealth Games will seem to be very real to Winchester in 2022," Councillor Malcolm Price told the Hampshire Chronicle.

"The hope is we will all have the opportunity to see top athletes training and being a part of our city for two to three weeks in the summer of 2022,” 

He was supported by another Councillor, Brian Laming.

"The new leisure centre will be outstanding and will include a first-class hydrotherapy unit which will particularly benefit the Para-event participants in the Games," Lamming told the Hampshire Chronicle.