THE SUPREME COURT ON THURSDAY refused to expunge the Delhi High Court’s unfavorable remarks against the Wrestling Federation of India in its order allowing renowned wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in the Asian Games 2026 selection trials.
However, while disposing of the WFI’s petition, the apex court clarified that this did not mean it endorsed the High Court’s ruling.
A Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Aravind Kumar ruled the WFI petition challenging the High Court order had become infructuous after the celebrated wrestler participated in the trials on May 30 and 31 following its May 29 order.
“In view of subsequent developments, this SLP (Special Leave Petition) is rendered infructuous. This will not to be taken as having reiterated the findings and observations of the high court. The issues are kept open,” the Bench stated.
In its May 22 order, the High Court Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia had observed that the grounds taken in the show-cause notice issued by WFI to Phogat appeared “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”.
The High Court had further noted that Phogat could not meet WFI’s “exclusionary” selection policy only because she was on maternity leave and that motherhood cannot become a ground for exclusion or marginalisation of female athletes like Phogat.
The Division Bench slammed the WFI for issuing a “deplorable” show-cause notice to Phogat and termed the WFI’s action as vindictive.
The WFI notice had said that her disqualification from the Paris Olympics for being overweight was a “national shame”. However, the High Court took strong objections to the choice of words and said that it revealed mala fides on WFI’s part.
The High Court had passed the order on Phogat’s appeal against a May 18 order of a single-judge bench, refusing her immediate relief on the issue of her participation in the selection trials. WFI had then approached the Supreme Court against the High Court ruling.
The Supreme Court on May 29 allowed Phogat to participate in the trials and kept the case pending. Phogat subsequently took part in the trial but failed to qualify.
When the case was taken up for hearing Thursday, senior advocate DN Goburdhun submitted on behalf of the WFI that “she (Phogat) did not succeed but she created havoc over there. The High Court judgement from para 31 onwards has to go. It has gone to the extent of saying malafide, deplorable, all of it has to be expunged”.
However, the apex court proceeded to close the matter.
For the record, Phogat had announced her retirement following the 2024 Olympics but returned to wrestling in December 2025.
The WFI then issued a show-cause notice accusing Phogat of indiscipline, anti-doping rule violations and failure to comply with mandatory return-to-competition procedures after retirement.
According to WFI, Phogat did not complete the required six-month notice period under United World Wrestling regulations before attempting a comeback. The notice also referred to her 2024 Paris Olympics disqualification for being overweight, calling it a “national embarrassment”, and alleged “whereabouts failures” linked to anti-doping protocols.
Phogat rejected the allegations, stating that both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Testing Agency had cleared her to compete from January 2026 onward. She claimed that the federation was attempting to force her into retirement and described the action as unfair and politically motivated.
