New Delhi: The Delhi High Court strongly rebuked the Wrestling Federation of India on Friday for its controversial decision to declare celebrated grappler Vinesh Phogat ineligible for domestic competitions. A division bench comprising Chief Justice D. K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia intervened decisively, directing the Central Government to constitute an expert panel to evaluate Phogat’s fitness and ensure her participation in the upcoming Asian Games selection trials scheduled for May 30 and 31, 2026.
The high court’s intervention overturned a setback from May 18, when a single-judge bench had initially declined to grant Phogat immediate relief. The division bench took a highly critical view of the federation’s sudden policy shifts, noting that the WFI’s abrupt departure from its established practice of accommodating elite international athletes speaks volumes about its underlying motives. The federation had barred Phogat from domestic tournaments until June 26, 2026, citing its new February selection guidelines and a mandatory six-month anti-doping notice period required for athletes returning from retirement—criteria that Phogat’s legal team argued were deliberately engineered to block her comeback following her maternity break.
During the fiery proceedings, the bench expressed immense displeasure over a 15-page show-cause notice issued to Phogat on May 9, a day before she defiantly turned up to compete at the National Open Ranking Tournament in Gonda. The court heavily criticized the federation for characterizing Phogat’s heartbreaking 100-gram weigh-in disqualification at the 2024 Paris Olympics as a national shame. Highlighting that Phogat had given birth in July 2025 and was currently navigating post-partum recovery alongside her return-to-training schedule, the bench emphasized that motherhood is celebrated in India and must never be weaponized to the detriment of an athlete’s career. Stating that the ongoing feud between the federation and the wrestlers should not cause the sport itself to suffer, the court gave the government counsel until 2:30 p.m. to return with concrete structural details regarding the formation of the Sports Authority of India-backed evaluation committee.
