WFI moves Supreme Court against Delhi HC order allowing Vinesh Phogat in Asian Games trials

New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s order permitting wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials for the Asian Games 2026.

As per the apex court’s causelist, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe is slated to hear the WFI’s plea on Friday.

On May 22, a division bench of the Delhi High Court, headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, had allowed Phogat’s participation, observing that the WFI’s selection policy was “exclusionary” as it did not provide any discretion to consider an iconic athlete returning from a maternity break.

The High Court had noted that Phogat, an internationally acclaimed wrestler who has won multiple laurels for the country, could not meet the federation’s criteria solely because she was on maternity leave. 

“It is acknowledged that motherhood cannot be treated as a professional impediment or a circumstance warranting adverse treatment. A legal and regulatory framework that either expressly or impliedly disadvantages a woman on account of pregnancy or post-partum recovery would clearly violate the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India," the High Court had observed.

The bench had further emphasised, “Becoming a mother is a great virtue and the laws and society always have given respect to mothers... Becoming mother can never become a disability.”

Highlighting the challenges faced by female athletes, the High Court said it could not remain oblivious to the “physiological realities and disadvantages related to child birth that female athletes undergo during maternity.”

The court had also come down heavily on the WFI for issuing a “deplorable” show-cause notice to Phogat, describing the federation’s action as “vindictive”. 

The notice had accused her of causing “national embarrassment” following her disqualification from the Paris Olympics for being overweight ahead of her gold medal bout.

The matter is now listed for hearing before the Supreme Court on Friday.