SC directs parashooter Sharma to be considered for Tokyo Paralympics

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) to recommend the name of award-winning paralympic shooter Naresh Kumar Sharma for the Tokyo Paralympics as the deadline for sending names to the International Paralympic Committee ended today

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) to recommend the name of award-winning paralympic shooter Naresh Kumar Sharma for the Tokyo Paralympics as the deadline for sending names to the International Paralympic Committee ended today.

The Supreme Court. (File photo)

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court passed the order realising the urgency of the situation and said, “For the time being, we direct PCI (respondent 1) to immediately recommend the name of petitioner (Sharma) as an additional participant/additional entry for the 50 metres (SH-1)R-7 event without any exception and report compliance by tomorrow.”

Later in the day, PCI issued a statement saying, “The selection criteria and process is totally at the discretion of International Paralympic Committee and PCI has no active role to play in it apart from conducting selection as per the guidelines….But PCI still bows down to the order of the Supreme Court and will further recommend Naresh Kumar’s name once again for the selection in the desired event to the International Paralympic Committee.”

The PCI statement further said that Sharma had failed the selection criteria. Those selected qualified with much better scores than Sharma who failed to win any quota for the country in the last four years, the statement said. At Sharma’s request, the PCI claimed that his name was recommended for selection but the same was turned down by the International Paralympic Committee.

Sharma, an Arjuna awardee, was not included for the Tokyo Paralympics that is to begin on August 24. As the last date for sending the names was August 2, he approached the Supreme Court for an urgent intervention. According to him, the PCI had recommended the name of just one shooter, Deepak, under the R-7 event when there is provision for sending three names for each event.

Appearing for Sharma, senior advocate Vikas Singh mentioned the petition on Monday morning before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana. The matter was listed before the bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari.

Singh said the parashooter had approached the Delhi high court in July this year to challenge the decision of PCI to drop his name from the list. Further, Singh argued that the selection criterion adopted by PCI was criticised by the Delhi high court in its July 27 judgment.

The HC held, “There is certainly something to be said about the manner in which respondent (PCI) has conducted itself, which is quite unbecoming of a public sporting body entrusted with the important task of selecting athletes to represent the nation at Paralympic games and other international Paralympic athletic meets, as also for managing Indian Paralympic teams at such events.”

Although HC said that Sharma fulfilled the existing criteria, it did not pass an order including him in the list noting that “the shooting team has already been placed in a bubble”. The HC, however, directed the Centre to examine if there was foul play behind dropping Sharma, and if so, ordered appropriate action to be taken against PCI. This order was challenged by Sharma before a division bench of the HC which issued notice to PCI and other respondents and fixed it for hearing on August 6.

The Supreme Court bench directed the matter to be listed on Tuesday and asked Singh to serve a copy of the petition on the PCI and other respondents including Sports Authority of India and the selected shooter Deepak whose name already figures on the list forwarded by PCI.

The absence of PCI left the top court with no option but to pass interim orders. The court had specific queries on whether Sharma can be placed in the bubble at this stage and whether there was any cut-off for placing athletes within the bubble. Before the HC, Sharma had said that PCI had factored in the scores obtained by the other shooter at Novi Sad 2021 World Shooting Para Sport Grand Prix which is not a recognised event for purposes of tabulation either by PCI or the International Paralympic Committee.

However, PCI submitted in the HC that pandemic resulted in cancellation of most international shooting competitions that forced them to change standards for selecting players. Further, it had stated that Deepak’s performance at 2021 Lima World Cup had helped India clinch the quota for the Tokyo Paralympics. He was thus entitled to all benefits therefrom, it added.