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Noida DM and para-shuttler Suhas L Yathiraj becomes first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics

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Noida DM and para-shuttler Suhas L Yathiraj has scripted history by becoming the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics. The 2007-batch IAS officer bagged the silver medal at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics in the badminton Men’s Singles SL4 event.

The Indian shuttler started on a positive note winning the first set before going down in the next two sets of the game in a 62-minute summit clash. He lost in the finals against France’s Lucas Mazur 21-15, 17-21, 15-21.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian shuttler by tweeting “A fantastic confluence of service and sports! @dmgbnagar Suhas Yathiraj has captured the imagination of our entire nation thanks to his exceptional sporting performance. Congratulations to him on winning the Silver medal in Badminton. Best wishes to him for his future endeavours.”

Suhas has served as the district magistrate of Prayagraj, Agra, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Sonbhadra districts. For the last one and a half years, he had been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic management in Gautam Buddh Nagar since his appointment in the western UP district on March 30, 2020.

Prior to his departure to Tokyo in the last week of August, Suhas, when asked about his badminton practice and work as DM, had told reporters, “I practice from 10 pm for two hours after all the day’s works are over. I have been managing my game and administrative duties this way for around six years now.”

Suhas who is currently world No. 3 in SL4 category started his professional journey in 2016 while he was the DM of Azamgarh district in eastern UP and a badminton championship was organized there. It was there, the Gaurav Khanna, the current coach of the country’s para-badminton team, spotted him and push-started his professional journey.

In 2016 he participated in the Asian Championship in Beijing and become the first non-ranked player to win the gold medal. He has also won medals at BWF Turkish championship in 2017 and 2019 besides the latest, a gold, in Brazil in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic started ravaging India and world.

When his participation in the Tokyo Paralympics was confirmed in July, Suhas accepted that the event was going to be a challenge and being the world number three in his category, he was hopeful for a medal.

“Over the years, we have seen that small margins make the difference between winners and losers. I have lost games with a margin of millimeters and won by centimeters. When I compete in Tokyo, I know every player will be there hoping to win a medal,” Suhas was quoted saying.

He cited the teaching of the Bhagvat Geeta saying he was not putting himself under any pressure for it. “Do your deed and you will get the results. I am not putting myself under any pressure. If God has brought me to this level, then I am going to put in all my efforts,” he said.