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Suhas Yathiraj. (Getty Images)
Top-seed Suhas Yathiraj has become the first India shuttler to win multiple medals at Paralympic Games.
India shuttler Suhas Yathiraj clinched a second straight silver medal in the men’s singles SL4 category of the ongoing Paris Paralympic Games after suffering a straight games defeat in the final on Monday. Suhas lost to local favourite Lucas Mazur 9-21, 13-21.
The 41-year-old Indian had also lost to Mazur in the final of the same event at Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.
Suhas thus became the first ever para shuttler from India to have won multiple medals at the quadrennial spectacle.
An IAS officer from the 2007 batch of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, he has served as the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Top-seed Suhas started his campaign by topping group A as he defeated Hikmat Ramdani of Indonesia 21-7, 21-5 and then South Korean Shin Kyung-hwan 26-24, 21-14 to march into the semifinals.
In the semis, he defeated compatriot Sukant Kadam 21-17, 21-12. However, in the gold medal clash, he was outclassed by Mazur who is 15 years his junior.
Mazur carved his way into the final by topping Group D. He defeated Brazil’s Rogerio Oliviera 2-0 before knocking out Indian para-shuttler Tarun Dhillon 2-0 in the second game. He then proceeded to breeze past Indonesian Fredy Satiawan, the bronze medallist in Tokyo, with yet another 2-0 victory.
Mazur continued what has been the theme for the tournament for the hometown favourite and took a 7-0 lead in the first game.
Despite a fightback, the early lead was too much for Suhas to cover as he lost 9-21. He tried to find his footing in the second game but the challenge proved too much as he trailed 6-11 at the mid-game interval. Mazur then comfortably closed the game 13-21 to secure his second consecutive gold medal in this category.
“It wasn’t my day; I’m not happy with my performance,” said the 41-year-old Suhas. “In a Paralympic final, you cannot afford so many unforced errors. I should have concentrated on my strokes much better.”
Suhas admitted he didn’t know how to process the silver medal and apologized to the fans for not meeting their expectations. “It’s very mixed feelings — on one hand, you’ve won silver, but on the other, you’ve lost gold. I’m sorry for letting my countrymen down.”
Currently, he is the Secretary and Director-General of Youth Welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal under the Uttar Pradesh government.
With PTI Inputs
