Noida DM Suhas LY reaches badminton final at Paralympics, assures India of a medal

Tokyo: Suhas L Yathiraj, the district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, stormed into the finals of the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday (September 4). Suhas, who has become the first civil servant from the country to represent India in the Tokyo Paralympics, won the men's singles SL4 semi-final in straight sets.

The Indian shuttler defeated Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia 21-9, 21-15 to seal the match in 31 minutes.

The Indian shuttler defeated Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia 21-9, 21-15 to seal the match in 31 minutes.

Suhas got off to a brilliant start as he took an early lead in the first Game and kept piling pressure on Setiawan. The Indian shuttler won the first Game 21-9.

The start of the second Game saw a neck-to-neck fight between the two shuttlers before Suhas took a lead. Suhas then wrapped the essay to seal the second Game 21-15.

Meanwhile, shuttler Manoj Sarkar lost the men's singles SL3 semi-final match in straight sets on Saturday.

Daniel Bethell of Great Britain defeated Manoj 21-8, 21-10 in the semi-final clash to seal the match in 38 minutes.

Manoj will now compete in the bronze medal later on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, shuttler Pramod Bhagat, the world number one, entered the final after defeating Daisuke Fujihara of Japan 21-11, 21-16 in the men's singles SL3 event.

Bhagat dominated the proceedings and won the match in straight sets to reach the final.

On Friday, Indian duo Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli defeated N Saensupa and Siripong Teamarrom 2-0 in mixed doubles SL3 SU5 Group match to move to the semi-finals.