Delhi HC slams WFI for calling Vinesh Phogat Olympic exit national shame | India News
New Delhi: Delhi High Court The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday slammed the wrestler for claiming it Vinesh PhogatThe disqualification for the 2024 Olympics was a “national shame”. The high court said it would “ensure” that he can attend the trial on May 30 to select the team for the next one. Asian Games in Japan and indicated that the WFI would order it after resisting the court’s repeated indications to allow Phogat to attend the trial held in Delhi.“Was it a national shame? Is this how the people of this country saw it? This is how you work for sports in this country?” An angry bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Kariya observed that it took exception to the WFI to deny the Olympian the opportunity to compete in the trials despite a clearance from the international body.It said the federation’s departure from its earlier practice of allowing high-profile athletes to participate based on past performance “speaks volumes” and appeared to be “premeditated”. The bench scolds WFI’s counsel for mentioning her absence from the wrestling circuit and reminds him that Phogat has recently become a mother. Even as WFI counsel clarified that the selection criteria was not to exclude new mothers and the issue in the present case arose out of Phogat’s decision to retire, the court observed that the consequence of the WFI policy was that she was excluded.Had she not been a mother, she would have participated and qualified, HC said, adding that an athlete should focus on sports preparation, not litigation.Meanwhile, the Center distanced itself from the WFI’s stand and letter, instead claiming that it did not want to exclude Phogat in any way, which was the wrestling body’s decision. Counsel for the Center submitted that if Phogat clears the trials, the framework provided by the Sports Authority of India allows relaxation of criteria for him to participate in the Asian Games. The criteria for his participation in the trial, however, will have to be relaxed by the WFI, the lawyer said.
Election policy of WFI totally regressive: HC
He also said that the trials could be conducted under the supervision of a technical team of the WFI in the presence of independent observers nominated by the Center and the Indian Olympic Association and the entire exercise would be videographed. The high court was hearing Phogat’s appeal against a single judge order on May 18 that denied him immediate relief from barring him from the election trial.In his petition, Phogat challenged the WFI’s selection policy and circular, which restricted the eligibility to participate in the trials to only medal winners of certain tournaments. Phogat asserted that the “eligibility window” selected by the WFI overlapped significantly with her notified leave due to pregnancy and post-natal recovery, creating a “closed and rigid gate-keeping mechanism” that was arbitrary and discriminatory.The High Court expressed its displeasure with the show-cause notice and questioned why it should not be presumed that the WFI had changed the selection criteria to exclude him. It also said that the WFI’s election policy was “completely retrograde” and asked whether the Center was taken into confidence when the WFI changed it.
