The Delhi High Court on Thursday flagged the challenges faced by women athletes whose careers are interrupted by pregnancy and childbirth, saying sporting rules must balance the national interest with the circumstances of women returning to competition after giving birth.
“This is the problem. A woman, she will get married, she will give birth to a child and in that interim period, men will go and win medals and then they will qualify and someone will have to sit back at home and look after the children. The court held that allowing her to compete despite not meeting the prescribed eligibility criteria would amount to creating a special exception in her favour. The court held that permitting Phogat to participate provisionally would, in effect, amount to creating an exception exclusively in her favour from the eligibility criteria applicable to all other athletes.
The remarks came while the court refused wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s plea for interim permission to participate in the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) selection trials for the 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championships. The court, however, made clear that it was not expressing any final opinion on the validity of WFI’s September 7 eligibility circular or the pending disciplinary proceedings against Phogat. The Delhi high court on Thursday refused to allow wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the selection trials for the 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championships, scheduled to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from October 24 to November 1.
Permitting Phogat 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, the court said.
There should be something that you have to do about this also, otherwise this is being very unfair,” the court observed, according to Bar and Bench . The court said that the criteria is not framed specifically against Phogat, but had to apply uniformly to athletes seeking to participate in the selection trials.
