A PARALYMPIC wheelchair rugby champion who made history with his team has been honoured with an MBE.

Ayaz Bhuta from Bolton has been named in the Queen’s new year honour’s list, receiving an MBE after making history with his team in the Paralympic finals in Tokyo 2020 by winning gold.

The Bolton athlete was overjoyed to learn he was honoured.

He said: “It feels good to be recognised and feels good that someone from Bolton like me, has this chance.

“Hopefully, it’s all the hard work that brings happiness to my family as well.”

Ayaz first received a letter from The Queen and did not believe what he was reading, thinking that maybe they had been invited to meet the monarch.

He said: “I was taken aback when I read the MBE part and I had to read it three times because I was not expecting it.

“We also had to keep it a secret and that was hard when we found out in November. It was an amazing feeling.

“It’s been a crazy nine years in my wheelchair rugby career, through all the adversity, missing out with losses and then the wins but it’s fantastic to have been part of this journey and to make history.”

Ayaz is not just an able sportsman but also has a degree in Business Information Systems from the University of Bolton.

He worked in customer services before finding wheelchair rugby. He became a professional in the sport in 2013.

Initially, Ayaz got involved with wheelchair basketball, but after being introduced to wheelchair rugby, he fell in love with the contact sport.

He said: “I had messages on social media and it’s taken me a day to get back to everyone.

“We had a mini-celebration at home with my family, and I’m really excited to get a medal when we have the ceremony.

“I still can’t get over it. Ayaz Bhuta MBE, it feels surreal to hear it and will take some time to get used to it.

“It’s just nice that somebody from my community has been recognised along with my team, and hopefully I can show that disabled people can do anything they put their mind to.”

Ayaz is hoping he has inspired others to chase their dreams as he did with his own and he is now looking forward to the European Championships in February.