Noida DM in team that meets PM ahead of Games

Noida: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a two-hour interaction with the Indian contingent that will take part in the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
The Indian team includes Noida district magistrate Suhas LY, currently ranked third as a para-badminton player.
Suhas has been selected by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the Paralympic Games along with three others. The Paralympics will be held in Tokyo from August 24 to September 5 and India will start its campaign from August 27. There are 54 para-athletes representing the country in seven sporting events, including archery and badminton.
The Noida DM said the Prime Minister had asked all participants to stay calm and play their best game without putting too much pressure on themselves. Suhas (37) is a 2007-batch IAS officer of the UP cadre and hails from Karnataka. He was posted as the Noida district magistrate in March last year, when Covid numbers had started to rise.
“I am going with an open mind and will try to give my best performance without thinking about the results. It is an honour itself to represent your country in the highest sports arena of the world. It is a privilege and opportunity that very few get and I hope I will be able to make the country proud,” he said.
Suhas has to shuffle between his duties as the DM and his practice sessions. “I practise for three hours daily. But those are dedicated hours, when I focus only on the game,” he said.
He does one hour of physical training in the morning and two hours of practice on the court late at night after work. The district magistrate has retained his world title since the pandemic put the brakes on major tournaments through the past year.
The last international tournaments that he played were the Brazil Open in January 2019 and the Peru Open in February 2019, winning gold in both. These were qualifiers for the Paralympics.