Suhas Yathiraj, who is also the district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), thus also became the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
Also Read: Historic heroes
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
