Silver lining for IAS Suhas

Express News Service

BENGALURU:  Six days after India entered into lockdown in March last year due to the Covid pandemic, Suhas Yathiraj took charge as the district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar in Noida. Despite being a frontline warrior, the Indian para badminton player tried to balance his work and sports life. Neatly dressed during the day as an administrator, the Karnataka-born man would have a racquet and shuttle in hand late at night to prepare for the Tokyo Paralympics.

“During this pandemic time, he was posted as DM there. There were a lot of Covid cases and deaths too. During that time, once he was done with the administration work, whenever he got time during the night post 10 pm, he would practice for two-three hours and also go to gym,” said Suhas’ brother Sharath Yathiraj.

Suhas, who has an impairment in one of his ankles, trained in Noida from last year but he stayed in touch with national coach Gaurav Khanna. They would be on calls every second day on the preparations for the Paralympics, and the coach would offer him vital inputs. The 38-year-old also paid good attention to fitness.

All this paid off on Sunday when he clinched silver in the men’s singles SL4 class final after going down to top seed Lucas Mazur of France. “After Covid cases decreased and the Paralympics also came close, I sparred with some good players in Noida. It does not matter how much you train. What is really important is what you do during that training. Gold would have been better, but I am happy with the Paralympic silver also,” said Suhas.

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