Prince Harry jokingly threatens to throw Aussie kangaroo mascot in the pool as he kicks off Invictus Games in Canada
PRINCE Harry showed his competitive spirit today as he was given a kangaroo toy by the Australian Invictus Games team - then threatened to throw it in a swimming pool.
Harry, who is in Toronto, Canada, for the military veterans' event, met competitors that were training for the swimming, volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams.
The Australian sportsmen and women gave him two small koalas to take home for Prince George and Princess Charlotte and showed off their stuffed boxing kangaroo mascot, which Harry pretended to throw in the water.
Making his way around the pool at the training session, he also met British athletes giving them pep talks for the week ahead.
At one point, he stopped to help Poppy Pawsey with her diving, after she asked him to "do me the honour of starting my dive".
Other cheeky UK athletes tried to distract him, but he leant down to her and shouted: "On your marks...go".
Poppy later said: "Everyone was giving me stick but I thought, I'm never going to get that chance again.
"So I just asked him. Hopefully it'll bring good luck."
The Prince then met the Georgian sitting volleyball team, the Romanian volleyball team and the Danish, Australian and Dutch wheelchair basketball players.
Speaking afterwards, Chris Clark, from the Australian team, showed the prince the boxing kangaroo cuddly toy at the side of the swimming pool, which he calls his "little mascot" for his upcoming contests in wheelchair basketball, archery and the Jaguar Land Rover challenge.
He said: "I thought he was going to punt it into the pool for a second.
"He has a good sense of humour.
"I met him last year and in the run up to this one and he's a very approachable young man.
"His experiences being very similar to a lot of us makes it a lot easier to connect."
The Prince will spend the duration of the Invictus Games in Toronto, home of his girlfriend Meghan Markle.
The Invictus Games is an international Paralympic-style sporting event for wounded, sick or injured members of the armed forces, as well as veterans.
The week-long event will see 550 competitors from 17 nations competing against one another in 12 different sports.
Prince Harry created the games after being inspired by the US Warrior Games, a similar sporting event for injured service personnel.
The first ever Invictus Games took place in March 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, United Kingdom.
In Latin, Invictus means "unconquered" or "undefeated", capturing the spirit of the injured services personnel who take part.
