Beyond his career in the IAS, para-athlete Suhas L Yathiraj is a Silver medallist at the Tokyo Paralympics.

It's a misconception that sports and academics cannot be pursued simultaneously, says Noida District Magistrate and Paralympic silver medal-winning shuttler Suhas Yathiraj, basking in the glory of his unparalleled achievements which he credited to the inspiring role played by his late father. The 38-year-old Suhas, who has had an ankle deformity since birth, claimed the silver at the recent Tokyo Games, his maiden Paralympics since taking up the sport in 2016.

Speaking to PTI in an interview, the bureaucrat, who gave up a corporate job after clearing UPSC, said he is accustomed to striking a perfect balance between his job and his passion. "My deformity is congenital. I have had operations when I was a child, I try to fix it. So, you are very sensitive to what people speak, you are not even confident as to what you can achieve in life. But that is where my father’s role came into play, he gave me immense confidence in what I could do. So since childhood, I have been competing against able-bodied athletes “ he said.

After schooling, Suhas did his engineering at NIT Suratkal, got jobs with three MNCs after that but felt there was something missing in life. He always wanted to be a civil servant and after the death of his father in 2005, he decided to pursue it. He wrote the exams in 2006 while working with an MNC. He has been at the forefront of managing Covid as the DM of Noida. Prior to Noida, he has been DM of Azamgarh, Prayagraj and Hathras.

The turning point in his sports career came in 2016, when he won a gold medal at the Asian Championship in Beijing. After winning the silver at Tokyo, he also praised the government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) programme which, according to him, played a big role in boosting India’s medal tally at the Tokyo Paralympics.