Noida District Magistrate and para-badminton player Suhas L. Yathiraj, who would be representing India in the upcoming Paralympics, feels athletes who would be able to absorb pressure during the Games will come out with flying clours.
The Tokyo Paralympic Games is scheduled to be held between August 24 and September 5. India will start its campaign on August 27 with men's and women's archery events.
"Whenever we play for India, expectations are very high. But every player is ready to go all out for their country during the Games, so playing with a cool mind becomes necessary," Para shuttler Suhas, who has been granted the quota in men's singles SL4, told ANI.
"If a player could absorb pressure, generally results are in favour of those athletes. So this is the challenge that how should we keep expectation aside and perform with a cool mind," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with the Indian contingent headed for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics.
In an effort to boost the confidence of the para-athletes, he wished them luck and asked them to go ahead and express themselves at the showpiece event.
The para-athlete reiterated PM Modi's mantra of playing the game without any pressure.
"It's an honour to represent India in Paralympics. For me even qualifying in a competitive sport such as badminton is a big thing," said Suhas.
"I am going to Tokyo with an open mind and like PM Modi mentioned today that we must play without any pressure, so I want to give my best. Destiny has always been kind to me, if I give my best the result will be positive," he added.
The Noida DM isn't thinking about the results and is only focused on taking one step at a time as he gears up for the Games.
"I am ranked three in the world in my category but every match is a new match, every point is a new point, so I am taking one step at a time and not thinking too much about what will be the result," said Suhas.
"When I was studying, I never thought of becoming IAS or district collector, so it's an honor for me to represent India. So my advice to young people is 'you should go after what you want. You shouldn't shy away from trying'," he added.
This time a record number of 54 para-athletes in 9 different divisions are participating in the Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games. Thangavelu Mariyappan, Rio 2016 Gold Medal winner, will be the flag bearer of India while Gursharan Singh shall be the Chef de Mission of the Indian team.
( With inputs from ANI )
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