Tokyo Paralympics: IAS Suhas Yathi Raj Won Historical Silver In Badminton Men Single’s SL4!

Tokyo Paralympics: IAS Suhas Yathi Raj Won Historical Silver In Badminton Men Single’s SL4!

History has been created at Tokyo Paralympics 2021. India’s Suhas Yathiraj has won the silver medal for India in Badminton Men Single’s SL4. He lost to top seed France’s Lucas Mazur in the badminton men’s singles (SL4) final.

Suhas who is the district administrator of Gautham Buddh Nagar, Noida has become the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at Paralympics. The 38-year-old Noida district magistrate, who has an impairment in one of his ankles, produced an entertaining performance before narrowly going down 21-15, 17-21, 15-21 to two-time world champion Mazur in a 62-minute summit clash.

Top seed Mazur has won three gold medals in European Championships as well. But India’s Suhas presented a tough challenge to the two-time World Champion but ended up losing. Suhas earlier defeated Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan by 21-9 21-15 in the semi-finals. 

Let Know Something About Suhas!

Suhas Yathiraj comes from a computer engineer background. He wanted to become an IAS officer thus he prepared for it and achieved it. He has been posted as a district magistrate of Noida since 2020, a role that saw him at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, let’s jump into Suhas’ badminton court life. he has won gold medals at the 2017 BWF Turkish Para badminton championship in men’s singles and men’s doubles. He also won gold in the 2016 Asia championships, besides a bronze at the 2018 Asian Para Games.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who himself met Suhas during the IAS convey congratulated the silver medalist on Twitter.

You can see the tweet here,

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

India’s medal hopes are not ended yet as Krishna Nagar also sailed into the men’s singles SH6 class final. He will be looking to grab the gold medal. Though, the silver medal is fixed. This was about the badminton single’s category. 

In doubles, Pramod Bhagat, 33, and his partner Palak Kohli, 19, will meet Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in the bronze medal playoff in mixed doubles SL3-SU5 class later on Sunday.

The pair lost the semi-finals against the Indonesian combination of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila by 3-21 15-21. Now, their eyes will be on winning the first-ever bronze medal for India in this category. 

Earlier Bhagat on Saturday had claimed India’s first badminton gold at the Paralympics in men’s singles SL3 class. Currently, India is at the 27th spot in the medal tally with 4 golds, 8 silvers, and 6 bronze medals which is India’s best-ever performance at the Paralympics.