AFI Agrees To Include High Jumper Tejaswin Shankar In CWG Contingent, Delhi HC To Consider Selection Process To Prevent 'National Embarrassment'

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it will include high jumper Tejaswin Shankar in the Indian contingent of players for the upcoming 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

AFI's counsel Hrishikesh Baruah informed the court that one of the athletes was disqualified from the relay event and therefore, Shankar's name will be forwarded in his place in the 36-member team contingent.

Justice Yashwant Varma, who was hearing Shankar's plea against his exclusion from the games, directed AFI to communicate the same to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). It also directed the IOA to immediately reach out to the Commonwealth Games authority and intimate it about Shankar's inclusion in the contingent.

The Bench has however kept the matter pending, stating that the discrepancies in AFI's selection process merit further consideration to prevent "national embarrassment" in the future.

Last month, Tejaswin Shankar had approached the Delhi High Court challenging the decision of the AFI to exclude him from participating in the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games to held in Birmingham.

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Gopal Sankarnarayanan argued that this decision of AFI was taken despite Shankar not only being a national high jump record holder but also the only Indian to have met the AFI qualification standard of 2.27 metres while winning a gold medal at the NCAA track and field outdoor championship in Oregon, US this year. This decision of AFI was claimed to be arbitrary, illegal and "against national interest."

When the matter was heard yesterday, Justice Varma came down heavily upon the apex athletics body over its arbitrarily team selection rules. While going through all the names selected by AFI and their achievements, the court noted that there were a few names that had been included despite not achieving the qualifying mark set by AFI itself. Thus, the court opined that while the AFI had the power to exercise discretion in selection, it could not pick and choose application of its rules. With this, the court had given AFI another day's time to 'revisit the issues that arise'.

As the AFI today agreed to include Shankar, the court fixed the case for 25 August 2022 for considering the issues regarding the discrepancies in AFI's selection process.

Case Title: TEJASWIN SHANKAR v. ATHLETICS FEDERATION OF INDIA & ORS.