NEW DELHI: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s order allowing celebrated wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials for the 2026 Asian Games.
According to the causelist of the apex court, a two judge bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe is scheduled to hear the Federation’s plea on Friday.
On May 22, a division bench of the Delhi High Court, led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, permitted Phogat to participate in the upcoming Asian Games trials, observing that the WFI’s selection policy was exclusionary as it lacked discretion to consider an iconic player like her returning from a maternity break.
The High Court said Phogat, seeking to return after maternity leave, could not satisfy the WFI’s “exclusionary” selection policy only because she was on maternity leave.
The HC observed that Phogat, being an “internationally acclaimed athlete”, had brought several laurels to the country.
“It is acknowledged that the 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 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution of India,” the bench said in its May 22 order.
In its verdict, the HC said, “Becoming a mother is a great virtue and the laws and society always have given respect to mothers. Becoming a mother is both an intimate transformation and a social moment. Across cultures and histories, motherhood has been celebrated and supported in widely different ways. At the same time, becoming mother can never become a disability.”
The bench said it could not be denied that the journey of a female athlete through pregnancy and the postpartum period was marked by extraordinary physical challenges, the magnitude of which was often insufficiently acknowledged within institutional sporting frameworks.
“We cannot remain oblivious to the physiological realities and disadvantages related to childbirth that female athletes undergo during maternity,” the bench said.
The HC also criticised the WFI for issuing a “deplorable” showcause notice to Phogat, alleging that she had caused “national embarrassment” after being disqualified from the Paris Olympics for being overweight ahead of her gold medal bout. The bench termed the WFI’s action as “vindictive”.
