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US Invictus Officials Rebuke Tom Bower’s Claims About Wheelchair Basketball Competitors

The dispute intensifies ahead of the book’s March 26 UK release.

Overview

  • Team United States representative David G. Paschal said multiple American wheelchair basketball players had visible impairments, including below‑the‑knee amputations, contradicting Bower’s account.
  • Paschal defended the Invictus model that includes competitors with invisible wounds such as PTSD and said adaptive sporting events like the Games save lives.
  • The Invictus Games Foundation condemned coverage that questions athletes’ legitimacy, calling such portrayals deeply disrespectful to wounded, injured and sick service members and veterans.
  • A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan dismissed Bower’s work as fixation and said those seeking “deranged conspiracy and melodrama” know where to find him.
  • Excerpts from Bower’s forthcoming book described the American players as not limbless and later walking away, and the book is slated for UK publication by Blink Publishing on March 26.