A WHEELCHAIR  basketball player from Llangollen is celebrating winning gold at the Invictus Games in London – just months after taking up the sport.
Alastair ‘AJ’ Pingram has been practising at Glyndwr University sports centre in Wrexham ahead of the games, which kicked-off on Wednesday in London. His experience of the sport had been so brief that he had applied for tickets to go and watch the games before making the team. The 38-year-old from Llangollen is one of the stars of Rhyl Raptors’ basketball squad.A teaching assistant at Ysgol Dinas Bran, AJ was a professional hockey player with the Royal Navy before a freak accident saw him permanently damage both ankles in 2000.  Pictures by Geoff Abbott He now walks with a stick and is forced to use a wheelchair over longer distances, but has a new-found lust for life after taking up basketball five months ago. He said: “It was an a wonderful experience made even better to be returning home with a gold medal. The people in London were wonderful, we were being stopped all the time by people asking to have their photographs with us and I don’t think any of us paid for a taxi the whole time we were there becaus the taxi drivers insisted that we not pay. “After you get injured it is difficult to find sporting outlets to get you off the couch. But doing this has makes you feel alive.” AJ is also making waves in rowing and is targeting the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he hopes to represent his country on court or in the water. “Representing Great Britain at the first Invictus Games is a massive honour for me,” he said. “I only took up wheelchair basketball earlier this year after being referred to a gym by my doctor and told to look at my fitness. “I was chosen for the GB squad within a matter of weeks after attending a few sessions with Cheshire Phoenix. “At the GB trials the work got harder and harder and people were dropping out but I stuck with it and made it into the team, where I play at point guard.” AJ added: “I’ve also been playing for Rhyl Raptors and training here at Glyndwr University in the lead-up to the event. Wrexham seemed the perfect place to be to get focused and ready for the games, so I’d like to thank Glyndwr for their support.” Following the accident - when he fell while playing hockey and damaged the bilateral ligaments in his ankles – AJ had to have eight operations. “I put on a lot of weight and felt pretty low,” said AJ, who is married to Joy and has two children, Luke and Yasmin. “But my amazing family and finding basketball have helped me turn things around. I’ve lost five stone and feel as fit and strong as ever.” “I had applied for tickets to watch the event, and now I find myself representing Great Britain at the Copperbox, which was where the London 2012 Olympics boxing matches were held – it’s an incredible turnaround.” AJ returned to Dinas Bran yesterday to show his medal to pupils, including his daughter Yasmin. He told them: “After the final hooter Prince Harry came in and hugged every single one of us and told us how much he loved us. He was absolutely brilliant all through the games.  “He's one of us and he speaks our language.”