Suhas Yathiraj wins silver: PM Modi & Prez Kovind hail shuttler's success at Paralympics

Suhas Yathiraj made history by becoming the first IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics.  Following the fantastic effort Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and congratulated Suhas Yathiraj for his silver medal-winning effort.

PM Modi tweeted that the medal-winning effort was a confluence of service and sports and how the Para-shuttler has captured the imagination of the nation with his performance. PM Modi also wished Yathiraj for his future endeavours. 

PM Modi, President Kovind congratulate

President Ramnath Kovind in his tweet praised Suhas Yathiraj for giving tough fight to his opponent in the final and winning the silver medal in badminton at tokyo Paralympics. The President further said that Yathiraj's dedication towards sports while discharging duties as a civil servant is exceptional.

Tokyo Paralympics: Recap of Suhas Yathiraj performance in the final

Taking on top seed Lucas Mazur, Suhas Yathiraj started the match on backfoot with the top seed (Mazur) taking an early lead of 4-3 in the first game. However, the Indian para shuttler bounced back to take an 11-8  lead in the first game. Suhas continued his splendid show to win the first set 21-15.

In the second set, Mazur fought well and took a 7-6 lead in the match but Yathiraj proved to be too good for his opponent as he took control of the match but, the Indian soon started losing the grip of the match as he had no answers to the Frenchman's serves, In the end, Mazur went onto win the second game 21-17 to take the match to the decider.

In the third and final set, it was Suhas Yathiraj who started on a stronger note with an early three-point lead before Lucas Mazur also added some points to his tally to keep his as well as his country's gold medal hopes alive. Nonetheless, it was Lucas who held on to his nerves and thereby, won the contest 21-15.

Suhas Yathiraj's chance of winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics was crushed by top seed France's Lucas Mazur who beat the India para-shuttler in three sets to claim the gold medal. Mazur beat Yathiraj 15-21, 21-17, 21-15 dashing India's hope of adding yet another gold medal to their tally. Earlier Yathiraj overcame the challenge from Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in the semi-final to qualify for the gold medal match.