New Delhi: Olympian Vinesh Phogat’s comeback trail has run into fresh legal turbulence after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) moved the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court order permitting her to participate in the selection trials for the 2026 Asian Games.
The trials are scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Saturday, but the federation’s latest move has cast uncertainty over the decorated wrestler’s immediate return to competitive wrestling.
People aware of the matter indicated that it is likely to be mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Friday seeking an urgent hearing ahead of the trials.
In its petition, the WFI assailed the May 22 order of a high court division bench as “ex facie illegal”, contending that the federation was not granted adequate opportunity to place a detailed response on record before directions were issued to include Vinesh in the selection process.
The federation argued that Vinesh was “ineligible” under the notified selection criteria governing the Asian Games trials for Aichi-Nagoya and maintained that athlete selection for international multi-sport events lies exclusively within the domain of the recognised National Sports Federation.