Life's a beach for misty-eyed Harry

Being chased by a female beach volleyball player may rank highly on most men's wish lists, but for Prince Harry fantasy became a reality.

US Olympic gold medallist Misty May-Treanor ran after the third in line to the throne after she failed to return a powerful shot from the Prince.

The pair were taking part in a sitting volleyball exhibition match on Saturday night alongside injured troops at the Warrior Games.

Harry helped launch the Paralympic-style sporting competition when he joined Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin and blind US Navy lieutenant Brad Snyder in igniting a large symbolic flame during the games' opening ceremony.

The Warrior Games will see injured servicemen and women from the US, UK, Canada and Australia compete in Paralympic-style events in Colorado Springs and the Prince said he hoped to bring the event to Britain.

Harry said he believed the spectacle of battle-scared troops competing against each other would attract spectators by the tens of thousands.

In a speech given ahead of the opening ceremony the royal, who was an official ambassador for Britain's athletes at last summer's Olympics and Paralympics, said: "I only hope in the future, the near future, we can bring the Warrior Games to Britain and continue to enlarge this fantastic cause. I don't see how it wouldn't be possible to fill a stadium with 80,000 people, not to watch Olympics, not to watch Paralympics but to watch wounded servicemen fight it out amongst each other - not on a battlefield but in a stadium."

At one stage during the exhibition volleyball match, Harry won a point for the UK team by hitting the ball at Misty who could not return it over the net. In response, Misty, 35, stood up and raced across the court in the direction of the fun-loving Army captain. With a huge grin across his face, the playful prince got up and started running away. The pair started laughing along with the rest of the crowd before they composed themselves and the game started again.

Later, Harry will start one of the Warrior Games cycling events at the US Air Force Training Academy in Colorado Springs and present medals to the top performing participants.

More than 250 injured athletes are competing in seven sports - archery, cycling, shooting, swimming, track and field, wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball. The UK has entered a squad of around 35 men and women funded by the Forces charity Help for Heroes, which also supported injured athletes who took part in last year's Warrior Games.