
Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan: Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj had a mixed day while Sukant Kadam won his opening match in the group stage on the opening day of badminton competitions in the Paralympic Games here on Thursday.
Yathiraj, who is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre and has served as District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar & Prayagraj, started the day with a defeat in the Mixed Doubles SL3-SU 5 partnering Palak Kohli. They lost to compatriots Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan 0-2 (14-21, 17-21) at Court 4 of the La Chapelle Arena in the French Capital.
The 41-year-old shuttler then came back a couple of hours later to start his campaign in the men's singles SL4 on a rousing note, defeating Indonesia's Hikmat Ramdani 21-7, 21-5 in just 22 minutes in his first match in Group A.