Paralympics are special as athletes are notonly aiming to clinch the coveted awards for their countries, but they are alsofighting societal barriers as they thrash the stereotypes and emerge as a hopeand inspiration for millions of people.
The same goes for Suhas, who became the firstcivil servant to represent India at the Paralympics. He is a highly-reputedgovernment officer, participating in Para-Badminton at the Tokyo ParalympicGames 2020. He is serving as a District Magistrate in the Indian northern stateUttar Pradesh — currently posted in Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining New Delhi.
Para-badminton athlete Suhas LalinakereYathiraj has made it to the semi-finals of the men’s singles badminton (SL4category) at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The 38-year-old IAS officer, who haswon two of his matches in the group stage and lost one, and will now faceIndonesia’s Fredy Setiawan for a chance to enter the gold medal match.
Hailing from the state of Karnataka, Suhas LYnever backed down in the face of adversity. Born to a government servant, Suhascompleted his early education in different cities due to his father’s officialpostings. His family wanted Suhas to become a doctor, but it was engineeringthat interested him more. A supporting father gave Suhas the freedom to pursuehis choices. He graduated as a Computer Science Engineer in 2004 with firstclass distinction. In 2007, he became India’s first specially-abled IAS officerand started his bureaucratic career from Agra.
Suhas says sometimes we win and sometimes welose, but one should never back down from the effort. He also says thatovercoming insecurities is the most important thing in life. For this, Suhasbelieves the support and confidence of parents is important to turn weaknessesinto strength to touch the sky. He also stresses the importance of timemanagement in being able to accomplish multiple objectives, sharing hisexperience as an IAS officer and a professional sportsperson.
The 38-year-old Suhas, who has an impairmentto one of his ankles once revealed that he never saw himself as a person withthe impairment. He gave credit to his parents, who never gave any specialtreatment since the beginning.
"Generally, we hesitate in encouragingchildren. Whatever I am today is because of my parents, who have told me topursue whatever I want. The journey is not going to be easy but one must makethe effort," he said.
"I want to appeal to all parents,especially those who have Divyang son or daughter, to please encourage theirchildren for sports and fill them with confidence that they can achieveanything if they make an effort. There would be wins and losses but they canachieve anything," he added.