Tokyo Paralympics: From IAS officer to para-athlete — Inspirational journey of Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj

'Sports help you to conquer your own self. It helps you to overcome fear. It helps you to maintain your body and mind' — this is Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj's philosophy as per the official Paralympics page, which underlines the extraordinary journey of a computer science engineer, who is now a government officer and also a para-athlete.

Paralympics are special as athletes are not only aiming to clinch the coveted awards for their countries, but they are also fighting societal barriers as they thrash the stereotypes and emerge as a hope and inspiration for millions of people.

The same goes for Suhas, who became the first civil servant to represent India at the Paralympics. He is a highly-reputed government officer, participating in Para-Badminton at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020. He is serving as a District Magistrate in the Indian northern state Uttar Pradesh — currently posted in Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining New Delhi.

Suhas is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2007 batch and has been working really hard to serve people during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic since joining his current bureaucratic role in April 2020 in Gautam Buddh Nagar. In 2007 he began working as an IAS officer and served in around half a dozen districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Now, Suhas hopes to win a medal and make the country proud at the Tokyo Paralympics; recently in an interview, the shuttler told reporters that over the last one-and-a-half-year, he practised and trained at nights after work given the COVID-19 situation.

"Over the years, we have seen that small margins make the difference between winners and losers. I have lost games with a margin of millimetres and won by centimetres. When I compete in Tokyo, I know every player will be there hoping to win a medal," Suhas told reporters.

"I believe in the teachings of Bhagvat Geeta. Do your deed and you will get the results. I am not putting myself under any pressure. If God has brought me to this level, then I am going to put in all my efforts," he said.

"As far as the medal is concerned, being world number three, it is obvious to hope for a medal. But again, as it is said, you do your duty, the result is destiny," the shuttler said.

As per a media interview and as mentioned by the Paralympics site also, it has been revealed that Suhas was enjoying working as a software engineer and worked in Bengaluru, Bangkok and Germany but his career took a turn after his father's death, who wanted to see him as an IAS officer.

The 38-year-old Suhas, who has an impairment to one of his ankles once revealed that he never saw himself as a person with the impairment. He gave credit to his parents, who never gave any special treatment since the beginning.

"Generally, we hesitate in encouraging children. Whatever I am today is because of my parents, who have told me to pursue whatever I want. The journey is not going to be easy but one must make the effort," he said.

"I want to appeal to all parents, especially those who have Divyang son or daughter, to please encourage their children for sports and fill them with confidence that they can achieve anything if they make an effort. There would be wins and losses but they can achieve anything," he added.

Every athlete competing at the world level aims to win a medal for her/his country but at the Paralympics, all the participants are an inspiration that impairments can never stop a person to conquer the world.