Another feather in cap, UP IAS officer Suhas LY clinches gold

Lucknow: In another honour to Uttar Pradesh in the field of sports, para badminton player and secretary (sports) in Uttar Pradesh govt, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, secured a gold medal at the Para World Championship, 2024, being organised at Pattaya, Thailand.

He defeated Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia in the finals. Besides Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar also capped their impressive run by securing gold medals in men’s singles SL3 and SH6 class, respectively.

World No. 3 Yathiraj, a paralymic silver medallist, outwitted Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-18 21-18 in SL4 final (standing/lower limb impairment/minor) for her maiden world title.

“Gold it is, happy and proud to be world champion,” tweeted the 40-year-old Yathiraj, who hails from Karnataka and is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Yathiraj, who has an impairment in one of his ankles, is currently the secretary and director general of youth welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal in UP govt.

Talking to TOI from Thailand over phone, Yathiraj said: “I have a silver medal in paralympics, and a gold in Asian Championship and Asian Games. The only thing I was missing was to bring a medal in para badminton world championship. This was my third attempt and I am glad that I have finally made it. Becoming world champion is a dream come true. When the National Anthem was played at the podium, it was a moment of extreme pride for me.”

“I had lost to Lucas Mazur in paralympics in Tokyo in 2021. That day, I have been training to defeat him and I did it in the semifinal. I did not have an opportunity to play against him in the last 2-3 years. He is world no. 1 that’s why I wanted to defeat him,” he added. Tokyo paralymic gold medallist Bhagat, who won a gold and two bronze at the Para Asian Games in China, edged out England's Daniel Bethell 14-21 21-15 21-14 in SL3 (standing/lower limb impairment/severe) final.

Bhagat thus completed a hat-trick of crowns after Stoke Mandeville in 2015 and Basel in 2019. He also won a gold medal at 2022 Tokyo and 2009 Seoul edition.

Apart from the gold, the 35-year-old also won two bronze medals in men’s doubles and mixed doubles along with Sukant Kadam and Manisha Ramadass, respectively. The three medals took his tally to 14, which includes 6 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze across categories.


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