IAS Suhas L Yathiraj tastes bittersweet silver

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 5

Suhas L Yathiraj is a firm believer in destiny. It was only by chance that he took up badminton six years ago and today, the district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar created history by becoming the first IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympic Games. The 33-year-old lost the hard-fought final 21-15 17-21 15-21 in the singles SL4 category against France’s Lucas Mazur.

In 2015, Yathiraj was invited as a chief guest at a local badminton tournament in Azamgarh, where he was posted as the joint magistrate. There he met the now national coach Gaurav Khanna. Yathiraj played a few shots to open the tournament. Khanna insisted that Yathiraj must pick up para badminton. The IAS officer, however, refused flatly as he was not interested. Four months later, however, he joined hands with Khanna.

“I was not interested at all. But then when I researched para sport, I found it interesting and then got in touch with Khannaji and started training seriously,” Yathiraj told The Tribune. “Within months I had won the Asian Para Badminton Championships and like they say, the rest is history,” the UP-cadre IAS officer added.

‘Silver is never good enough’

Yathiraj said it was bittersweet for him to finish second. “Silver is never good enough. It is the most disappointing and yet happiest moment for me,” he said. “I was struggling to adapt to the drift and ended up giving away easy points after committing too many silly unforced errors. This is what it is.”

As an administrator, the 33-year-old has already handled tricky situations, be it the human deluge for the Kumbh Mela or handling the Covid-19 pandemic as the administrative head in Noida. So, how does he compare his work as an administrator with his passion as a badminton player? “It is very hard to say. I have handled a few tricky assignments as an administrator. All I can say is that handling a district comes down to team work. You have to lead the system and see to it that everything works,” he said. “Sport is individual. It is up to you how you perform.”