{"id":543043,"date":"2026-07-10T17:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/543043\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:12:12","slug":"harrys-wheelchair-rugby-skills-impress-as-invictus-games-countdown-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/543043\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry\u2019s wheelchair rugby skills impress as Invictus Games countdown begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry was in his element rushing around the court, crashing into opponents with glee and scoring tries as he launched the one-year countdown to his Invictus Games at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Missing was the Duchess of Sussex, who was due to attend the event but did not fly to the UK with Harry earlier this week because of security concerns.<\/p>\n

\"HarryHarry impressed with his skills during an exhibition match (Aaron Chown\/PA)<\/p>\n

Meghan is now\u00a0widely expected to travel with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in the coming days, prompting rumours of a meeting between the King and his grandchildren.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ITV\u2019s This Morning, presenter Alison Hammond suggested to Harry that his family must appreciate him, and he replied: \u201cThey don\u2019t tell me everyday that they\u2019re proud of me, but yeah I\u2019m proud of them, they\u2019re proud of me \u2013 I love my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the wheelchair rugby match, Harry threw a blind pass over his head straight into the arms of a teammate, who crossed the try-line, a move praised by TV presenter Ade Adepitan who won a bronze with the GB basketball team at the 2004 Paralympics.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster, who played on Harry\u2019s team which ran out 7-1 winners, said: \u201cHe did a no-look pass. Did you see it? A no-look pass over his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, he said to me at the end \u2018it was just a throw and hope\u2019 but I said \u2018style it out, style it out,\u2019 that was done on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdeHarry was joined by Ade Adepitan during a visit to Birmingham\u2019s National Exhibition Centre (Aaron Chown\/PA)<\/p>\n

The event was part of a series of showcase sports highlighting events that will be staged when Birmingham hosts the Invictus Games.<\/p>\n

Adepitan said about wheelchair rugby, a favourite sport among fans at past Invictus Games: \u201cThis is a fantastic exhibition, a fantastic opportunity for people who\u2019ve never seen the sport and never seen these athletes compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re on there, you\u2019ve got to do it justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a speech to mark the countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games, Harry told past and present competitors and international captains: \u201cThis is just the warm-up, I think we\u2019re all in for something truly extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, while the Games are famous for the competition, they have always been about more than medals.<\/p>\n

\"HarryThe Duke of Sussex was greeted by Alison Hammond at the Invictus Games countdown event (Aaron Chown\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the heart of Invictus are the competitors \u2013 remarkable men and women who have served their countries and who continue to show us what courage really looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry also tried playing pickleball, a popular racket sport which will debut at the 2027 Invictus Games alongside laser run \u2013 a biathlon style event where competitors run or wheel themselves around a course before shooting at targets with laser pistols.<\/p>\n

The duke, a former Army officer, raced around the track and made easy work of his five targets, but watched as his teammate from Australia\u2019s Invictus squad was pipped into second place at the finishing line in her race.<\/p>\n

He unveiled the new British Sign Language sign for Invictus Games, demonstrating from the lectern for the Invictus \u201cfamily\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harry added: \u201cThat resilience in this community, in every individual that turns up to the Invictus Games, all those people that have served our 26 nations, is something that every community in this country and every community around the world can take some strength from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has a lot of troubles but when it comes to national resilience lets use this moment, the next 365 days, to lean on and learn from the Invictus community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry was in his element rushing around the court, crashing into opponents with glee and scoring tries as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-543043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}