Karnataka High Court Restrains Table Tennis Federation From Sending Selection List For CommonWealth Games Till Next Hearing Date

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday while issuing notice to the Table Tennis Federation and other respondents, by way of interim direction, ordered that the selection list for the upcoming CommonWealth Games, 2022, to be held in England, shall not be sent till the next date of hearing. A division bench of Justice P S Dinesh Kumar and Justice C M Poonacha issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by a player Archana Kamath whose name has been dropped from the selection list. It said, "Issue emergent notice to respondent Nos.2 to 8 returnable by 22.6.2022. By interim direction, it is ordered that the selection list shall not be sent till the next date of hearing." Senior Advocate Uday Holla appearing for the petitioner had argued that the Impugned Order made by Respondent No. 2 in excluding the Petitioner's name from the Women's Table Tennis Team to represent India in the Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, 2022 in its meeting dated 06.06.2022, is arbitrary and grossly contradictory to its functions and objectives. As per the petition, Kamath holds World Rank No. 8, individually, in the Women Doubles Category being the highest ranked Indian player in the said category. She is world ranked No. 66 in Women Singles and is the second highest world ranked Indian in Women Singles. The Petitioner has been selected as part of the TOPS (Target Olympics Podium Scheme) Core group as a potential medal prospect in the Paris Olympics to be held in 2024. The plea states the Federation was earlier governed by an elected body namely, the Executive Committee which was entrusted with the selection and ranking of players for various table tennis tournaments for all age groups. In the year 2021, the functioning of the said Executive Committee was called in question, when Respondent No. 6 (Manika Batra) who had represented India in various tournaments internationally filed a Petition before the High Court of Delhi alleging several activities of the Executive Committee to be against the interest of the players. Acting on Batra's petition, the High Court appointed a Committee of Administrators vide its order dated 11.02.2022 to discharge the functions of Respondent No. 2. The Committee of Administrators comprised of three members namely, Justice Gita Mittal (Rtd.), Former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court as Chairperson along with Mr. Chethan Mittal, Senior Advocate, and Mr. S. D. Mudgil, a renowned athlete as Members. On April 6, the Federation issued a new draft criterion for selection of members of all players in the Indian Table Tennis teams. It had proposed a modified ranking system allocating points to maintain a balance between international and domestic rankings for team selections. The Federation called upon stakeholders to provide their comments on the new selection and ranking criteria on or before 20.04.2022 and further, notified hearings to hear the stakeholders who had provided their comments on the new draft on selection and ranking criteria on 29.04.2022 and 01.05.2022. In a meeting held on May 12 by the Federation, it was discussed that a new selection criteria be included. The salient feature of the new selection criteria included consideration for direct selection if the players had secured a World Rank of 8 or below in the Senior Doubles Category and World Rank of 32 or below in the Senior Singles Category. The Federation notified that the above change in the selection and ranking criteria would come into effect from 01.10.2022 or from the next national ranking tournament whichever is earlier. The rationale or the reasoning for giving such a cut-off date was not explained in the Minutes of the Meeting. It is submitted that while Respondent No.2 was embarking on making changes in the existing criteria knowing very well that the same were flawed, had issued and published a Long List of Probables consisting of men and women players eligible to be a part of the Indian table tennis team to represent India in the Commonwealth Games-2022, on its official website. On 09.05.2022, the Federation issued and published a List of Probables for the Commonwealth Games-2022, consisting of 16 players (8 men and 8 women), including the Petitioner, on its official website. The List had been finalized by a five-member Selection Committee during the meetings they had held 25.04.2022, 01.05.2022 and 02.05.2022. Further, the list also included an announcement regarding a national training camp to be held from 23.05.2022 to 30.05.2022 at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru following which the Selection Committee was to announce the national table tennis team to represent India in the Commonwealth Games-2022. On 31.05.2022, the Selection Committee announced the Indian men's and women's teams that would represent India in the Commonwealth Games-2022, at Birmingham, which included the...

Karnataka High Court Restrains Table Tennis Federation From Sending Selection List For CommonWealth Games Till Next Hearing Date

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