By Victor Kanayo
A Nigerian – Peace Azuegbulam, has become the first African ever to win the Invictus Games in a spectacular fashion.
According to reports, Azuegbulam won gold in the Games in Dusseldorf, Germany, when it held in August, 2024.
Azuegbulam, 27, won gold in a powerlifting category.
He also competed in sitting volleyball and other sports.
Speaking to AFP after emerging victorious, Asuegbulam said, “I feel great to become the first champion in Invictus Games from Africa. Invictus means unconquered, we are still unconquered because we are still alive.”
“After being injured, I got into a lot of things emotionally, physically, and even mentally, I was thinking a lot of things, I was not myself, it was very tough.”
The Invictus Games, founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, himself a veteran, as a way to help in the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen and women through sports, started in 2014.
A total of 23 nations participated in weightlifting to volleyball and table tennis.
Like other wounded military men, the journey has been tortuous for Azuegbulam who had been part of an army unit fighting to dislodge jihadists in the northeast of Nigeria, where troops have been battling Islamist militants for more than a decade.
Jihadists opened fire with an anti-aircraft gun, wounding Azuegbulam, and forcing doctors to amputate his leg in 2020.
With the help of local organisation known as Nigeria Unconquered, he started to become involved in sports recovery for wounded servicemen and veterans, and eventually to a team heading to the Invictus Games in September.
