Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj is a fighter. A fighter who is fond of winning his battles. The mindset of a winner is something he has developed since childhood when his parents refused to treat him differently despite his leg impairment. His parents pushed him to take part in athletic events and with that, began his journey towards excellence.
Yathiraj is an Indian para-badminton player who currently occupies the second spot in the world rankings. He is also an IAS officer of the 2007 batch and the first bureaucrat from India to represent the country at the Games.
What started as a hobby turned into a serious endeavor in 2016 when Yathiraj, who at the time was serving as the DM of Azamgarh district in eatesrn UP, was invited as a guest at the inauguration of a badminton tournament and expressed his desire to participate.
He went on to outclass state-level players at the event and upon being spotted by Gaurav Khanna, the current coach of the country’s para-badminton team, began his badminton journey.
In 2016, he made the headlines after winning Asian Para-Badminton Championships to become the first bureaucrat from India to win an international title in badminton. In the same year, he was also awarded the Yash Bharti award, the highest civilian honour of Uttar Pradesh. Two years later, he won National Championship in men’s singles at Varanasi.
In Tokyo, he qualified as the second-ranked shuttler from his group behind world number one in SL4 category Lucas Mazur. Then in the SL4 class semifinals, Suhas outwitted Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-9 21-15 in 31 minutes.
The Karnataka-born engineer graduate from NIT Karnataka has made it to the final of the men’s singles badminton (SL4 category) at the ongoing Paralympics in Tokyo, and will fight for the gold on Sunday with the eyes of the nation trained on him. He will face top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the final.
Suhas graduated as computer engineer with a distinction and has previously served as the district magistrate of Prayagraj, Agra, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Sonbhadra districts.
And for the past one and a half years, he had been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic management in Gautam Buddh Nagar since his appointment in the western UP district on March 30, 2020.
Profile
- Age - 38
- Sports/Discipline – Badminton (men’s SL4 category)
- Working Ranking - 2
- First Paralympic Games – 2020 Tokyo
Major Achievements
Asian Para Games
Bronze medal –2018 Jakarta, Indonesia (Men’s team)
Asia Championships
Gold medal –Beijing, China (Men’s singles)
BWF Turkish Open Para-Badminton Championships 2017
Gold medal – 2017 Antalya, Turkey (Men’s singles)
Gold medal – 2017 Antalya, Turkey (Men’s Doubles)
BWF Japan Open Para-Badminton Championships 2017
Silver medal – 2017 Tokyo, Japan (Men’s singles)
Bronze medal –2017 Tokyo, Japan (Men’s Doubles)
National Para-Badminton Championships 2018
Gold medal – 2018 Varanasi, India (Men’s singles)
BWF Turkish Open Para-Badminton Championships 2018
Silver medal –2018 Konya, Turkey (Men’s singles)
BWF Uganda Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Bronze medal –2019 Kampala, Uganda (Men’s singles)
BWF Irish Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Silver medal –2019 Dublin, Ireland (Men’s singles)
BWF Thailand Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Bronze medal –2019 Bangkok, Thailand (Men’s singles)
Bronze medal –2019 Bangkok, Thailand (Men’s doubles)
BWF China Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Bronze medal – 2019 Hangzhou, China (Men’s singles)
Silver medal – 2019 Hangzhou, China (Men’s Doubles)
BWF Turkish Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Gold medal – 2019 Antalya, Turkey (Men’s singles)
BWF Denmark Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Bronze medal –2019 Odense, Denmark (Men’s singles)
Silver medal – 2019 Odense, Denmark (Men’s Doubles)
BWF Japan Open Para-Badminton Championships 2019
Bronze medal – 2019 Tokyo, Azamgarh (Men’s singles)
Tokyo Paralympics Qualification
Yathiraj qualified for the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Paralympics via a bipartite invitation.
2016 Rio Paralympics Performance
Yathiraj did not qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.
With PTI Inputs
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