WASHINGTON: Britain`s Prince Harry was hosted at the Oval Ofñce on Wednesday, after cheering a basketball game with the first lady, on a lightning visit to the United States to promote the 2016 Invictus Games.

Launched in London in 2014, the games for injured service personnel, founded by the British prince, hold their second edition in Orlando, Florida, in May next year.

The 31-year-old Harry joined Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the US vice president`s wife, at the Fort Belvoir military installation in Virginia to meet injured troops and together promote the event.

Sporting a blue suit and beard Harry sat between the ñrst and second lady through a game of wheelchair basketball, as Michelle Obama pumped up the room, saying: `It`s a game, come on! `Harry promised next year`s Games would be `four really intense days of sport`, while Obama quipped she must `apologise to him in advance for all the gold medals America will win` `I know everyone involved is working to raise the bar so that this event will keep getting bigger, and bigger every single year,` she said.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have made supporting returning and injured troops a top priority, an interest they share in common with Harry.

Wheelchairs crashed and slammed into each other as the players, some with missing or prosthetic legs, dribbled and passed up and down the court.

Blake Johnson, a 23-yearold retired Army sergeant who was injured in 2013, is aiming to make the cut for the Invictus Games.

`To have the opportunity to go to the Invictus Games, for me it`s a physical healing, but it`s a mental healing as well,` he said.Harry, who was to fly out later Wednesday, headed from Virginia to the White House for an informal first meeting with US President Barack Obama.

`We are very glad to support the Invictus Games`, said Obama, who praised efforts `to make sure that we see not simply the sacrifices (service members) have made, but also the incredible contributions and strength and courage that they continue to display.`-AFP