Would Open A Pandora's Box: Delhi High Court Declines To Let Vinesh Phogat Participate In 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championship Selection Trials
|The Court said that the earlier Division Bench relief over maternity-related exclusion was case-specific and does not confer a continuing exemption, flagged pending disciplinary proceedings over alleged misconduct at Asian Games Trials.
The Delhi High Court has declined to grant wrestler Vinesh Phogat interim permission to participate in the Women's Selection Trials for the 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championships, holding that carving out a special dispensation for her alone from the eligibility criteria prescribed by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) would, in substance, amount to granting an exception unavailable to other similarly-placed athletes and would not only be unfair but will also "have the effect of opening a Pandora's box”.
Declining to treat an earlier Division Bench order permitting Phogat to compete in the Asian Games Selection Trials as a continuing exemption, the Court held that the said relief had been confined to the facts then before it, namely a specific show cause notice and selection policy found prima facie arbitrary. Further noted that a second, subsequent show cause notice concerning alleged misconduct by Phogat during those very Asian Games trials remained pending and unresolved, a circumstance the Court held could not be ignored while considering fresh interim relief.
A Division Bench Justice Dr. Swarana Kanta Sharma observed, “…Permitting the petitioner to participate by granting her a special dispensation, therefore, would not only be unfair to other athletes across the country who may have a similar grievance against the policy but are not before this Court, but would also have the effect of opening a Pandora’s box, with other athletes seeking similar exceptions from the prescribed eligibility criteria. Such a direction, at this stage, cannot be issued without first examining and adjudicating upon the validity of the policy itself”.
Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao appeared for the petitioner and Advocate Hemant Phalpher appeared for the respondent.
Vinesh Phogat, who had remained away from competitive wrestling during 2024-2025 on account of pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum recovery, was cleared by the International Testing Agency to resume competition from January 01, 2026.
When WFI's Asian Games Selection Policy dated February 25, 2026 based eligibility on competitions held during her absence, she was excluded from selection; shortly before a qualifying tournament at Gonda in May 2026, WFI issued a show cause notice declaring her ineligible until June 26, 2026, preventing her participation.
She challenged this before the High Court, and while a Single Judge declined interim relief, a Division Bench, in an appeal, made prima facie observations that the selection policy was arbitrary and exclusionary and that "motherhood could not have operated to prejudice a woman in her career," permitting her to compete in the Asian Games trials held on May 30, 2026, where she reached the semi-final but was not selected.
WFI subsequently issued a second show cause notice on June 17, 2026 alleging misconduct during those trials. Both show cause notices remained pending, with the petitioner failing to appear before the Disciplinary Committee on three scheduled dates, citing non-disclosure of the Committee's composition. Against this backdrop, following issuance of a fresh circular dated September 07, 2026 prescribing eligibility criteria for the 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championships trials scheduled for September 14, 2026, the petitioner filed the present writ petition and interim application.
Examining the record, the Court held that the criteria under the circular applied uniformly to all athletes and were not directed against the petitioner specifically, and that her non-participation in prescribed qualifying events, whether attributable to maternity-related absence or to WFI's own conduct in barring her from the Gonda tournament, was a matter going to the validity of the selection policy itself, to be examined at final hearing, rather than a ground for interim exemption.
The Court further held that the pendency of the second show cause notice, arising from conduct during the very trials she had earlier been permitted to attend, was a relevant circumstance that could not be disregarded, while clarifying it was expressing no opinion on the merits of that notice. Balancing the petitioner's individual claim against the interest of a fair, uniform, performance-based selection process for athletes representing the country internationally.
The Court accordingly dismissed the interim application seeking provisional participation in the Selection Trials, without expressing any final opinion on the validity of the circular or the merits of the pending disciplinary proceedings, and listed the writ petition for further hearing on 29.09.2026.
Cause Title: Vinesh Phogat v. Wrestling Federation of India & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:7773)
Appearances:
Petitioner: Rajshekhar Rao, Senior Advocate, Aashita Khanna, Ritwik Prakash, Neil M. Goswami, Vishakha Gupta, Advocates.
Respondent: Hemant Phalpher, Karishmit Keswani, Udit Dedhiya, SPC, Rahul Mourya, GP, Kumudavalli Seetharaman, Geetika Vyas, Rajni Gupta, SPP-CBI, Shivendra Gupta, Siddharth Shekhar, Advocates.