new delhi despite a hectic work schedule and long working hours suhas lalinakere yathiraj an ias officer takes out time to hit the badminton court regularly he gets up at 6 am begins office work at 830 am does some inspections attends meetings and video conferences and checks files despite holding a top bureaucratic job he calls badminton his passion and first love despite his hectic work schedule he manages to find time to play yathiraj who is currently posted as the district magistrate dm of gautam buddh nagar noida scripted history in september by winning a silver medal in the mens singles badminton event at the tokyo paralympics he is the countrys firstever civil servant to win a medal at the paralympics timesofindiacom caught up with yathiraj who also won a bronze medal in the 2018 asian para games in jakarta to talk about his badminton journey so far his podium finish at the tokyo paralympics juggling work and badminton his plans for paris 2024 and more 0738ias officer suhas yathiraj on juggling top job with his passion for badmintonhow would you describe the journey from becoming an ias officer to clinching a silver medal at the paralympics the journey started in the remote parts of karnataka my father had a transferable job so i had to shift my schooling to wherever my father got transferred to during our youthful days we didnt know what to do first of all to get into school then a good college it was a challenge growing up all we wanted was to do well in the final exams and get admitted to the best schools i remember in the 11th and 12th standard i worked really hard and my family was very particular that i should get into a good college i was fortunate enough to get into the national institute of technology in karnataka in the computer science branch i consider that as a decent achievement coming from a small place in karnataka after getting into the best engineering college you start dreaming of more suhas ly toi photoa lot of options were there whether to go for an mba or settle abroad most of my college mates more than 50 per cent are settled in either the us or europe i took up a private job in a multinational company in bangalore but i always wanted to be a civil servant so i started preparing for the upsc exam in 2006 i took the exam and then got into the indian administrative service of 2007 it was a dream come true it all happened after my father expired in 2005 it was really a tragic incident in my life as they say destiny takes different turns in life god has been extremely kind i have always been fascinated with sports since childhood sport is always part of my life when i was in college i used to play cricket and badminton quite seriously after i got into administrative services i