Canada are one of the world's top men's wheelchair basketball nations, famed for claiming silver at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, while the women took a very respectable fifth place in the Chinese capital.

Meanwhile, Slovakia claimed four gold medals at Beijing 2008, including a gold in the team class 1-2 event, which was won by the duo of Rastislav Revucky and Jan Riapos.

"We have one of the most important years of training ahead of us now in the lead up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games so it's essential have a good training base in the UK," said Riapos, who is now President of the Slovak Paralympic Committee.

"Sheffield's facilities are second to none and we are grateful for the warm welcome we've received here so I look forward to an enjoyable and successful year ahead."

Paul Zachau, high performance director at Wheelchair Basketball Canada, also claimed that the world-class facilities in Sheffield were the reason why both his teams chose the city as their pre-Games training camp.

"There's only one year to go now before we'll be playing in the most important Games of our career so we need to train in the very best facilities and against the very best opposition like the Great Britain teams," he said.

"Sheffield gives us both and we are excited to be confirming our intentions for our pre-Games training camps."

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire and chair of Yorkshire Gold, said: "Yorkshire's fast becoming the training destination of choice for some of the world's top Olympic and Paralympic teams.

"We have some fantastic world class Paralympic talent in Yorkshire and this demonstrates that as a region we have some wonderful facilities to support these athletes."

Councillor Helen Mirfin-Boukouris, Cabinet member for business, jobs and growth, added: "It is important for Sheffield to attract pre-Games training camps, both because of the economic boost they bring to the city, and the inspiration they give to people throughout the city to get more involved in sport."

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