Ian Hillier is hoping to improve on a silver medal in golf

Ian Lewis Jones, from St Asaph, Ian Hillier, from Cardiff, and Murray Beeham from Builth Wells are all taking part in the competition.

The games opened in Ontario on Saturday and continue until 24 July.

Thousands of people who have undergone organ transplants compete in the games which first took place in 1978.

Mr Lewis Jones, 32, who had a heart transplant as a teenager, already has an impressive haul of 17 medals from competing in international events.

At the Canadian event he is to represent Great Britain at golf and volleyball.

The World Games are a fantastic opportunity for transplantees to enjoy their new lease of life Ian Lewis Jones

British Telecom engineer Ian Hillier, who has had a kidney transplant, is looking forward to taking part in the games and then having a holiday in Canada afterwards.

He already has a silver World Games medal in golf but has recently taken up tennis and also competes in the 800 metres.

He had to wait for six months before receiving his kidney transplant, but said he was "pretty lucky".

"I was not that ill so I could keep up the golf," said Mr Hillier, adding competing in the transplant games was a "fantastic opportunity to travel the world and keep up in sport".

Mr Lewis Jones was badly hurt in an accident on a school skiing trip which damaged his kidney, spleen and led to pneumonia.

He later developed a virus called cardiomiopathy and needed a heart transplant which was carried out in 1990.

Transplantees

"Since transplantation I am fit and well and determined to stay active, competing in the games has given me a focus and I'm elated to be representing Great Britain at this year's World Games," he said.

He has received backing for competing in the games from the national charity, Heart Research UK

Barbara Harpham, the charity's national director, said: "Having paid for six of the first ever UK heart transplants, Heart Research UK has been a very strong supporter of the British Transplant Games for several years.

"Being able to receive a heart and therefore the ability to live without constant medical attention has boosted the profile of transplantation and we are proud to lend our support to these transplantees who now take part in World Transplant Games."