This IAS officer-turned shuttler is now World No.1

Suhas Yathiraj achieved a new career milestone Tuesday when he became the World No. 1 para shuttler in the Standing Lower 4 (SL4) category in the latest BWF para-badminton world rankings.

Yathiraj toppled Lucas Mazur of France from the pole position to attain the feat.

"Finally World Number 1. Happy to share that, In the latest Badminton World Federation Para Badminton rankings announced today for the men’s singles category, I have got world number 1 ranking, first time in life, replacing previously long standing world number 1 Lucas Mazur of France.Thanks a lot for your blessings and wishes. Jai hind," Yathiraj wrote on microblogging site X. 

An IAS officer

40-year-old Yathiraj, who hails from Karnataka and is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre, accumulated 60,527 points to his credit, while Mazur could assemble 58,953.

Yathiraj has been in terrific form this season, winning the gold medal at the Para Badminton World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.

Such was his domination at the event that he went on to claim the yellow metal without dropping a game.

He played three more events since then and made two runner-up finishes, while in another he reached the semifinal.

Yathiraj, who won a silver at the Tokyo Paralympics and gold at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, will look to better the colour of his Paralympic medal in Paris in August-September.

Meanwhile, there are three more Indian para-shuttlers in the top 10 of the SL4 category, with Sukant Kadam at five, Tarun at six and Naveen Sivakumar at eight.

In the Standing Lower 3 (SL3) category, Nitesh Kumar rose to the top of the world rankings, going past Daniel Bethell of Great Britain.