Tokyo Paralympics: Suhas Yathiraj clinches silver in men's singles badminton

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

India's Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj ended his campaign with a historic silver after going down fighting against top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the men's singles SL4 class final at the Tokyo Paralympics here on Sunday.

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.

Suhas had lost to Mazur, who has won three gold medals in European Championships as well, in the qualifying group A match but the India made a tremendous effort in the final to challenge his world No. 1 rival.

The district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) thus also became the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics.

Suhas had earlier outwitted Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan 21-9 21-15 in the semifinal.

In SL4 bronze medal play-off, second seed Tarun Dhillon went down 17-21 11-21 to Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in 32 minutes to miss out of a medal at the Totogi national stadium.

A computer engineer, Suhas went on to become an IAS officer and 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.

On court, he has won gold medals at 2017 BWF Turkish Para badminton championship in men's singles and men's doubles. He also won gold in 2016 Asia championships, besides a bronze at 2018 Asian Para Games.

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