India has made history with its best-ever performance at the 2024 Paris Paralympics with 29 medals in the kitty including seven gold nine silver and 13 bronze medals. Among the many winners from the Indian contingent, badminton star Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj bagged a silver medal in the badminton men’s single sl4 category.
For the unversed, Suhas also won a silver medal at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Suhas, a computer engineer who transitioned into an IAS officer, has never let his ankle impairment diminish his passion for badminton.
Currently serving as the Secretary and Director-General of Youth Welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal for the Uttar Pradesh government, his journey from administrative duties to the badminton court showcases his exceptional perseverance. In an exclusive conversation with NewsX, Suhas opened up about how he balances his job with his undying passion for badminton, how he felt after winning the silver medal again and what it takes to prepare for a tournament taking place at a global level. Here are the excerpts:
In an interaction with Devika Chopra, News Editor, NewsX, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj shared how it was a great honour and privilege that he got to represent the tricolour after winning back-to-back medals first in Tokyo and then silver in Paris. “It’s a dream come true ideally. I would have liked to win gold but then in hindsight, I would settle for silver.” He added, “Kuch pal aap zindagi bhar sambhal ke rakhte hein. I feel extremely privileged and happy to make my country proud.”
When asked about who were the people around when he won the silver medal and what really happened at the moment when he realized that he has yet again won a medal, Suhas told NewsX, “What happens is in Paralympics every match was a knockout match so if you lose one match it’s Tata bye-bye to Paralympics and uh you know that’s it your journey ends there so there a lot of pressure I still remember in my second match when I almost gave the other player three game points and I had to come back after every point and equalized then from there winning the game and then winning the match.”
Recalling the moment, he continued, “And, I still remember in semifinals when I was nearing my win when I was at 29. I still remember the score. I came under so much pressure that I gave the my opponent three points continuously because I knew that if I’m going to even make one point I’m going to be the finalist my medal would be confirmed. So, I just told the Umpire that I just wanted to you know wipe my face I just want to wipe my sweat off but honestly it’s just that I wanted to gather my thoughts don’t think about the medal don’t think about anything else in life just think about one point at a time and then once that happened once that point happened then all my emotions just poured through.”
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj further told NewsX, “I just had the realization that I’m going to be a paralympic medalist it’s one of the best feeling to have in one life the there are peak moments in your life.” He added, “If you take top 10 moments in one’s life, I think this would definitely come up there in top 10 moments of anyone’s life because you don’t get to play in Paralympics every day and you don’t get to win especially so yes it’s a very special moment for me.”
When asked how he balances his life of an IAS with being a sportsman, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj told NewsX, “If you try to pursue excellence it’s never easy. You will have to put in hard work and then you’ll have to keep pegging at it. The real challenge is to choose a passion that you really enjoy doing what you see at the end of the day after winning the medal that’s only the climax the real movie or the real story is when nobody’s looking at you you have to burn midnight oil, you have to get up early and if you choose something that you love then you can always perform well at it and then you can also manage your time better.”
While citing the example of journalists, Suhas added, “For example, you are doing journalism probably because you love it then it doesn’t really matter whether you put in eight hours a day or 12 hours a day- if you don’t like that probably six hours a day would also be painful. Similarly, I chose civil services because I like to be amongst people I like to be a public servant so it doesn’t really matter if I’m working for 10 hours or 12 hours.
Suhas further shared, “Similarly, I love my badminton so it doesn’t really matter if I’m practicing at 12 in the midnight or 5 am. If you really love something you’ll try to find time and then the probability of success becomes more.”
Suhas then shed light on how he geared up for the Paris Paralympics telling NewsX that for any sports person to excel fitness and skill is what they need. Elaborating on the same, he asserted, “Fitness is a continuous process. It cannot be developed over one week or one month – you will have to be extremely strict with your diet and your fitness regimen so it takes almost 6 months to one year and it’s a continuous process.”
He also said, “Regarding skill, the more you practice the better you will become so there is no there’s nothing called perfection in skill development. One may be the greatest sports person but he or she will still have room for improvement so that’s how we have to continuously improve. So early mornings and then late nights were mainly dedicated for my sports activities and during the daytime afternoons evenings it’s mainly for official work and meetings.”
“If you love the day job and if you love the early morning sessions, if you love the late night sessions, then it’s all good,” claimed Suhas, adding, “If you enjoy the process, life is a journey, it’s not one destination where in you reach- if you have to take one step at a time and if that step that you are taking even though you are putting lot of effort but if you are enjoying then the probability of success becomes much higher .”
When asked what lessons he learned at Paris Paralympics 2024, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj told NewsX that a lot of lessons were learned as he did not win the gold medal. “I am a silver medalist so the lesson in life is you don’t always get what you want so you have to accept but then when I look at the silver medal in the para Olympics, this is also dream come true for most of the athletes because when I was returning for returning from Paris to India many of the athletes who could not win medals were so depressed, revealed Suhas.
Giving an insight, Suhas further told NewsX, “When I spoke to them, it made me realize it the value of my medal. I think life and sports are great leveler- you learn to accept failures and success and you learn to take it in your stride. You just learn to move ahead in life. Every day is a new day like in sports, the game starts with whatever you have done previously and it doesn’t really matter how you do on that day.”
After the big win, the double silver medalist wants to enjoy and soak in the moment before prepping for Los Angeles 2028. Shedding more light on the same, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj told NewsX, “Right now, I’m not really, looking at any specific tournament or any specific games in particular. I just want to enjoy the current moment.”
He added, “I just want to take things as they come so concentrating more on as you see my dress is more of an official dress, concentrating on administration right now. I just want to feel happiness, and in fact, let me tell you growing up in school college I never thought I’ll become a computer engineer or an IAS officer, a collector and then a paralympic medalist. God and destiny have been very kind, therefore, I just want to take some time to actually be humble and you know express my gratitude to god, all the family members, friends, seniors and whoever has helped me,” concluding, “I just want to soak in these moments right now.”
The Olympic champion had a few words to share when asked how he would like to the Indians getting inspired by him. “I would reiterate what the famous movie Rocky where the father says to his son, ‘Life is not all full of roses life will hit you hard and you will fall down so it does not really matter how many times you fall down what matters is whenever you fall down how you get up and you punch back.'”
He added, “So, don’t try and punch back as much as possible try keep moving forward with all the positivity because you cannot wait for ideal circumstances to present itself to you you will have to make the most of whatever nature or destiny gives you. If you are courageous enough, if you put your heart and soul then more likely the destiny will be kind to you.
Check the full interview here:
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