BJP leader Babita Phogat has welcomed the Delhi High Court’s decision to allow Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials for the 2026 Asian Games scheduled to be held on May 30-31.The Delhi High Court order came after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) declared Vinesh ineligible to participate in domestic events till June 26.
Babita, a former wrestler, said the court’s decision was correct.
“I accept the court’s decision, and the court’s decision is the right decision. Whatever it is, the court has already taken its decision. Nothing is bigger than the court, so we should welcome the court’s decision and thank the court,” Babita was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.The Delhi High Court on Saturday ordered that Vignesh be allowed to participate in the selection trials.
The court also ordered that the trials be recorded on video and monitored by independent observers from the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association.“The appellant (Phoghat) will be allowed to participate in the qualifiers for the 2026 Asian Games, scheduled to be held on May 30, 2026 and May 31, 2026,” the court said in its order, issued on May 22 and uploaded on its website on Saturday.“It is clear that the policy and circular are exclusionary in nature as they do not give respondent No. 1 (WFI) any discretion to consider eminent players like the appellant in the light of the sabbatical taken on account of maternity leave,” the statement read.
The court said the standard for selection trials represented a significant departure from previous practice, which stipulated freedom to select top female athletes for the Asian Games, and added that the law must ensure that motherhood does not become a reason to disqualify female athletes like Phogat.She stressed that motherhood cannot be treated as a professional obstacle or a circumstance that warrants negative treatment.The court also observed that the reasons taken by the World Sports Federation in its May 9 show cause notice to Phogat “appear to have been pre-medied and the closed cases reopened” and that “it is necessary to allow the appellant to participate in the selection trials in the interest of sport and justice”.The court also took issue with the WFI’s characterization of Phogat’s disqualification at the 2024 Paris Olympics as a “national embarrassment” in its show cause notice, stating that such a statement was “unfortunate”, “a prima facie misconception” and “should have been avoided”.She stressed that “such remarks are considered reactionary and show the bad faith intention of Respondent No. 1 to seek revenge against the Appellant.”The court noted that Phogat’s exclusion from the selection trials was directly attributable to her “full-time and temporary retirement,” and added that a ruling that causes harm to a woman due to pregnancy or postpartum recovery violates the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.“It is undeniable that the female athlete’s journey during pregnancy and the postpartum period is one marked by extraordinary physical challenges, the magnitude of which is often not adequately recognized in institutional sporting frameworks,” the court said.“Motherhood should be viewed as a natural and crucial aspect of life worthy of adaptation and institutional sensitivity.
She added: “Therefore, the law must ensure that motherhood does not become a reason for excluding or marginalizing female athletes, like the appellant.”The court granted an order on Fugate’s appeal against the May 18 single-judge order, denying her immediate relief on the issue of her participation in the selection trials.In the order, the court noted that since the selection policy and offer notice are being examined by a single judge bench, it is necessary not to allow the petition to become frivolous at this stage by not allowing Hoggatt to participate in the Asian Games Trials.She said that prima facie, Fugate had made a good case on the merits challenging the policy and circular as being completely arbitrary and discriminatory.“It is clear that except for the maternity of the appellant and the SCN issued by respondent No. 1, she is entitled to participate in the selection trials. Therefore, the circumstances were beyond her control and while the legality of the policy, circular and the findings of the SCN are being examined by the learned Single Judge, it has been considered appropriate to protect the interest of the appellant by allowing her to participate in the selection trials.”The court also asked independent monitors from SAI and IAA, who will be nominated by the Centre, to submit a report before the single-judge bench.In her petition, Phogat challenged FIFA’s selection and roll-out policy, which limited eligibility to participate in the Asian Games qualifiers only to medal winners in certain tournaments.Fugate asserted that the “onboarding window” chosen by WFI significantly overlapped with the sabbatical leave she had been notified of due to pregnancy and postpartum recovery, creating a “closed and inflexible gate-keeping mechanism” that was arbitrary and discriminatory.Earlier this month, FIFA announced that Fugate was ineligible to participate in domestic events until June 26, citing the mandatory six-month notice period associated with athletes coming out of retirement under anti-doping rules.However, Phogat made a defiant appearance at the National Open Ranking Championship in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.Phogat participated in a protest organized by women wrestlers in 2023 against alleged sexual harassment by then WFI president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Charan Singh.In August 2024, Phogat was disqualified from the Olympic finals of the 50kg category due to being 100 grams overweight at the morning weigh-in.
