Supreme Court Dismisses WFI Plea Against HC Order Allowing Vinesh Phogat's Participation In Asian Games Selection Trial
The Supreme Court today(May 4) dismissed the plea referred by the Wrestling Federation of India(WFI) challenging the Delhi High Court's order permitting wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials for the Asian Games. The plea was dismissed as infructuous in view of the fact that the selection trials are already over.
Last week, the Supreme Court refused to stay he High Court's order and allowed Vinesh to go ahead with her participation scheduled on May 30 . Pursuant to this, she participated but lost in the selection trials.
When the matter was taken up today, a bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Aravind Kumar did not make any observation and simply termed the petition as infructuous. Senior Advocate DN Goburdhun(for WFI) insisted that the Court must stay the observations made by the Delhi High Court that WFI acted with malafides. The Court initially said that the observations of the High Court will have no bearing on the matter pending before the Single Judge. But it later stated that the findings of the High Court have not been reiterated by the Supreme Court, and the issues are kept open.
It may be recalled that on May 29, the bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe allowed her to participate in the selection trials for the upcoming Asian Games on May 30. But it kept the matter pending to address the approach adopted by the Delhi High Court in granting relief to the wrestler. The bench said that the Delhi High Court dedicated page after page to motherhood when the real issue was regarding the norms of the International Testing Agency(ITA) since Phogat had missed the doping test.
It pointed out that Vinesh had missed the doping test in January this year, and the explanation offered by her to the International Testing Agency(ITA) that she had to attend the assembly as an MLA in Haryana was not considered satisfactory. Despite expressing reservations about the High Court's order, the bench refrained from revoking the permission granted to her.
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On May 22, a division bench of the Delhi High Court directed that Phogat be allowed to take part in the selection trials scheduled for May 30 and 31. In doing so, the High Court observed that the WFI selection policy was "clearly exclusionary in nature" as it does not give any discretion to WFI to consider iconic players like Phogat in view of the sabbatical taken on account of her maternity leave, as a woman cannot be prejudiced for taking maternity leave.
It further observed that Phogat's exclusion from the Selection Trials is directly attributable to the sabbatical and temporary retirement from her sporting activities on account of her maternity leave, and the law must ensure that motherhood does not become a ground for exclusion or marginalisation of female athletes such as Phogat.
The High Court also ordered that the trials be video recorded and conducted under the supervision of independent observers appointed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to ensure transparency in the selection process.
The directions were issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia while hearing an appeal filed by Phogat against an interim order passed by a single judge Bench.
The single judge had refused to grant interim relief in Phogat's pending writ petition challenging the WFI's selection policy as well as a show-cause notice issued against her.
Phogat had approached the High Court contending that she should be permitted to participate in the selection process for the upcoming international event. The Division Bench, while granting interim relief, put in place safeguards including video recording and independent oversight of the trials.
Case Detail: Wrestling Federation of India v. Vinesh Phogat | SLP (c) 19503/2026