IAS officer Suhas wins silver in badminton, India secured 19 medals

In Tokyo Paralympics, India's shutller Suhas L Yathiraj secured the silver medal in the final of the men's singles badminton SL4 event by losing to Lucas Mazur of France on Sunday. Yathiraj has scripted history by becoming the first Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer to win a medal at the Tokyo Paralympics. Suhas Yathiraj, a Karnataka-born engineer who is currently serving as the District Magistrate of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, stunned the 3-time world championship medalist in straight games. Suhas looked in complete control against the much-fancied opponent, pushing the French para-badminton star to the limits.

Yathiraj, currently ranked No. 3 in the SL4 category, had beaten Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in straight games in the semi-final to assure India another medal at the Tokyo Paralympics. He won a gold medal at the Asian Championships in Beijing. Gold medals followed at Japan Open and Turkish Open in the following year as Yathiraj continued allocating time for para-badminton despite his busy schedule as IAS officer. In 2016 itself, he participated in the Asian Championship in Beijing and become the first non-ranked player to win the gold medal. Prime minister Narendra Modi congratulated Yathiraj.

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. pic.twitter.com/bFM9707VhZ

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 5, 2021

President Ram Nath Kovind said that Yathiraj's dedication to pursuing badminton while also discharging his duties as a civil servant is "exceptional. UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath also congratulated Suhas for his success. India now have four gold, eight silver and six bronze medals to be placed 26th with one day left in the Games. India had won just four medals in the last edition in Rio while the total count from the 1972 edition when the country competed for the first time till these Tokyo Games was 12.