Noida DM and shuttler Suhas L Yathiraj today scripted history by becoming the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics. The 2007-batch IAS officer with a leg impairment, won the silver medal at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics today after losing the final match against France's Lucas Mazur in the badminton Men's Singles SL4 event.
He lost in the finals against Lucas Mazur 21-15, 17-21, 15-21. The Indian shuttler started on a positive note winning the first set before going down in the next two sets of the game in a 62-minute summit clash.Suhas, currently world No. 3 in SL4 category, has played three matches, including the semifinals on Saturday, in the ongoing Games before today's final match.
Suhas had lost to Mazur, who has won three gold medals in European Championships as well, in the qualifying group A match 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 fantastic confluence of service and sports!@dmgbnagar Suhas Yathiraj has captured the imagination of our entire nation thanks to his exceptional sporting performance. Congratulations to him on winning the Silver medal in Badminton. Best wishes to him for his future endeavours."
