Veterans, troops in race against time to get rugby team to Invictus Games

Kiwi soldiers and veterans have less than six months to get their rugby team to the Invictus Games. Photo / Supplied

Veterans and soldiers are in a race against time to get a Kiwi rugby team to next February’s Invictus Games in Canada.

There’s no shortage of keen players. But the high cost of specialist wheelchairs for athletes is a challenge.

Defence Force leaders, athletes and supporters gathered at Sudima’s Auckland CBD hotel and discussed obstacles veterans have faced over the years with stress and trauma.

“They give so much to the country but once they retire or leave the service they are forgotten people,” Sudima founder Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala told the Herald.

Jhunjhnuwala said he was first made aware of the Invictus Games through a friend.

Later, Sudima chief operating officer Les Morgan talked about the athletes some more with people from the Army.

It turned out the Invictus rugby team had nowhere near enough wheelchairs, Jhunjhnuwala said.

“How do you get a rugby team going with three wheelchairs?”

The chairs are estimated to cost $15,000 each.

Jhunjhnuwala said he knew one of the athletes who worked as an apprentice on a Sudima building site about 13 years ago.

“He was an electrical engineer in the Navy.”

Part of his training was to work on a civilian site as an apprentice.

Jhunjhnuwala said the engineer was one example of how closely entwined the civilian and military worlds could be. Sudima donated $15,000 for a wheelchair but the company hoped others would chip in for the rugby players too.

A fundraiser aimed at getting the rugby team wheelchairs has been started on Givealittle.

Lieutenant Colonel Greg Josephs, Invictus Games team manager, has spoken of his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and said the Invictus Games meant a lot to the athletes.

“Through the power of sports our wounded, injured, and ill competitors compete against other nation counterparts on a shared journey of recovery,” he said.

Brigadier Rose King told the crowd at Sudima the military in previous years often hadn’t done enough to support veterans, or staff struggling with stress and trauma.

She also paid tribute to the families of NZDF staff and soldiers.

“Quite often we take that home and without that love and that support we have, we couldn’t do what we do.”

The Invictus Games are being held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.

The high cost of specialised prosthetics for athletes has also been raised overseas in recent days.

Former Royal Marine Mark Ormrod MBE, the UK’s first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict, told the BBC prosthetic legs he used every day cost about $170,000.

And the BBC heard his specialised prosthetics could cost up to $255,000.

Prince Harry and British entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills founded the Invictus Games, which were first held in 2014.