Noida DM creates history, won silver medal in Tokyo Paralympics

He lost in the final against Lucas Mazur 21-15, 17-21, 15-21. The Indian shuttler got off to a positive start by winning the first set before going down in the next two sets of the game in a 62-minute summit clash.

Suhas, who is currently world No 3 in the SL4 category, has played three matches, including the semi-final on Saturday, in the ongoing games ahead of today’s final.

Suhas had lost in the qualifying Group A match to Mazur, who had also won three gold medals at the European Championships, but the Indian made a tremendous effort in the final to challenge his world No. 1 rival.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian shuttler and tweeted, “A wonderful amalgamation of service and sports! @dmgbnagarSuhasYatiraj has captured the imagination of our entire nation for his exceptional sporting performance. On winning a silver medal in badminton. Congratulations to him. Best wishes to him for his future endeavours.”

Suhas, who graduated as a computer engineer from NIT Karnataka, has previously served as the District Magistrate of Prayagraj, Agra, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Sonbhadra districts.

For the last one and a half year, he was at the forefront of COVID-19 pandemic management in Gautam Buddh Nagar since his appointment in Western UP district on March 30, 2020.

Before leaving for Tokyo in the last week of August, when Suhas was asked about his badminton practice and work as DM, he told reporters, “I will start from 10 pm after all the day’s work is over. I practice for two hours. I have been managing my sports and administrative duties like this for almost six years.”

Suhas said that his professional journey started in 2016 when he was the DM of Azamgarh district of eastern UP and a badminton championship was organized there.

“I was a guest at the inauguration of the tournament and expressed my desire to participate. Till then it was a hobby for me as I was playing badminton since childhood. I got a chance to play there and beat state level players.”

He said, it was there, Gaurav Khanna, the current coach of the country’s para-badminton team, saw him and continued his professional journey.

In 2016, he participated in the Asian Championship in Beijing and became the first non-ranked player to win a gold medal.

More international recognition awaited him than winning medals at the BWF Turkey Championships in 2017 and 2019, besides, the latest in Brazil in 2020, a gold, as the COVID-19 pandemic started ravaging India and the world.

When his participation in the Tokyo Paralympics in July was confirmed, Suhas said the event would undoubtedly be a challenge and that being the world number three in his category, he was hopeful of a medal.

“Over the years, we have seen that small margins differentiate between winners and losers. I have lost the game by millimeters and won by centimetres. When I compete in Tokyo, I know every player will be hoping to win a medal,” Suhas told reporters.

However, he said that he was not putting himself under any pressure for this, as he referred to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

“Do your karma and you will get the result. I am not putting myself under any pressure. If God has brought me to this level, I am going to put in all my efforts,” he said.