Prince Harry and Anthony Joshua launch sports campaign to support disadvantaged young people

The Duke of Sussex has teamed up with boxing champs Anthony Joshua and Nicola Adams to launch a new initiative, which aims to support disadvantaged young people through sport.

Made by Sport, which brings together a coalition of charities, aims to raise £40 million, that will be used to provide a variety of sporting provisions in deprived areas of cities across the UK.

Harry, 34, was reunited with former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, 29, at the Black Prince Trust in Lambeth.

The pair first met two years ago when AJ offered to be Harry’s best man at his wedding to Meghan Markle, when the duke interviewed the boxer on Radio 4's Today programme.

Harry stepped into the boxing gym at the event to watch Anthony coaching youngsters alongside flyweight fighter and double Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams.

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Funding for youth services has dropped by 40% over the last four years and young people from disadvantaged communities are half as likely to participate in sport as those from affluent backgrounds.

During his speech, the duke acknowledged how sport can positively impact people’s mental health and how it can change lives.

He said: “We have a responsibility in this campaign to ensure places that are being shut down are not being shut down and that people from all walks of society and every corner of this country are actually given the opportunity to shine, to flourish.”

“This is about community, this is about providing opportunity to young people all over the place to actually be part of something, something they might not be getting at home, within their own community.”

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Anthony said: “Sport to me is more than competing. It is about the discipline and regiment it teaches you. The lifestyle of an athlete can be taken into any walk of life. It’s about how you can improve yourself as an individual.”

Prince Harry revealed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon in 2017 that he took up boxing because “he was on the verge of punching someone,” during his battle with grief following his mother Princess Diana’s death.

He said: “Everyone was saying boxing is good for you and it's a really good way of letting out aggression.”