SC clears Vinesh for Asian Games 2026 trials

The Supreme Court on Friday permitted wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials to be held on May 30 and 31 for the Asian Games 2026.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe passed the order while hearing a plea filed by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) challenging the Delhi High Court order allowing Phogat to participate in the selection trials.

“Today, at this stage, the high court having passed the order, the hope and expectations have risen. To tell her to go back home and we can’t do anything, will not be proper. We are very bold in telling you this,” the bench told the counsel appearing for the WFI. The top court said, “The respondent (Phogat) shall be permitted to participate in the selection trials for the Asian Games 2026, which are scheduled on May 30, 2026, and May 31, 2026.”

The bench also expressed concern over the manner in which the high court dealt with the matter.

“We are not stopping. You (Phogat) go ahead and participate,” it observed, adding that she has been an excellent wrestler and has made the country proud. During the hearing, the bench asked senior advocate Madhavi Divan, who was appearing for Phogat, about the missed doping test and also about the whereabouts part of it.

The top court said in December 2024, Phogat took a sabbatical saying that in August 2025, she would start participating. It said that in June last year, she informed that the sabbatical ended.

The bench referred to a communication which said that on January 5, Phogat had missed the doping test and the whereabouts were not known. It observed there was an order of the International Testing Agency (ITA) in May this year which considered Phogat’s explanation.

The bench noted that Phogat, also an MLA from Haryana, had said that she had to participate in the Assembly session. Divan said Phogat was not seeking any concession or exemption.

“I (Phogat) just want to participate,” she said, adding that the wrestler may or may not succeed. The bench observed that Phogat is definitely not an ordinary athlete. It said Indian sports are integrally connected to the world sports.

“So therefore, if some kind of a disqualification occurs at the world level, it will be a reflection on the country,” the bench observed.

The top court said it was rather surprising that without referring to any of the schemes or any of the rules, suddenly the high court had said that the policy was “exclusionary”. “This policy was made way back in February 2026, applied across the board,” it said.

“In the normal course, it would not have troubled us. The only thing that weighs with us is the fact that you have been an excellent wrestler and you made the country proud. But country first. In any event,” the bench said.

Divan reiterated that Phogat was not seeking any concession.

“If I (Phogat) am not allowed to participate, that would be a national embarrassment,” she argued.

The bench posted the matter for hearing next week.

On May 22, a division bench of the high court had given its nod to the participation of Phogat in the upcoming trials for the Asian Games, saying the WFI’s selection policy was exclusionary for the lack of discretion to consider an iconic player like her, who is returning from a maternity break.

The high court had ordered that the selection trials shall be video-recorded by the WFI and an independent observer from the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association each shall also remain present.

It had said the standard for the selection trials marks significant deviation from the past practice, which provided for discretion for the selection of iconic players for the Asian Games, and added that the law must ensure that motherhood does not become a ground to exclude female athletes like Phogat.

Motherhood, it had asserted, cannot be treated as a professional impediment or a circumstance warranting adverse treatment.

The high court had further observed that grounds taken by the WFI in the May 9 show-cause notice to Phogat “appear to be pre-mediated and reopening the closed issues” and that “it is necessary that the appellant is permitted to participate in the selection trials in the interest of the sport and justice”.

It had also taken exception to the WFI terming Phogat’s disqualification in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games “national embarrassment” in the show-cause notice, stating that such a statement was “deplorable”, “ex-facie misconceived” and “ought to have been avoided”.

It had passed the order on Phogat’s appeal against a May 18 order of a single-judge bench, which had denied her immediate relief on the issue of her participation in the selection trials.

Earlier this month, the WFI had declared Phogat ineligible to participate in domestic events till June 26, citing the mandatory six-month notice period linked to athletes returning from retirement under anti-doping rules.

A defiant Phogat, however, showed up at the National Open Ranking Tournament in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda.

Phogat had participated in a protest staged by women wrestlers in 2023 against alleged sexual harassment by the then WFI president and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

In August 2024, Phogat was disqualified from the 50-kg category Olympic finals for being 100 gm overweight in the morning weigh-in.