By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday dismissed the petition of a woman wrestler who challenged the selection criteria of the Wrestling Federation of India for the Commonwealth Games.
Justice S. Murlidhar, while dismissing the plea of Sonika Kaliraman, said: “Irrespective of past performances, the Federation is supposed to select players with good current performance.”
Hearing the submissions of WFI, the court clarified that there is no “arbitrariness” on the part of the Federation in rejecting anyone’s participation in the Games.
Sonika, daughter of ace wrestler and gold medallist in the 1970 Asian Games, Chandgi Ram, moved the court alleging unfair selection criteria adopted by the WFI.
“The performance trial taken by the committee was not fair and justified, and the petitioner was not given proper opportunity to prove her ability for reasons best known to the committee,” the petition mentioned.
The petition also pointed a finger at the selection committee for favouring and selecting some of the wrestlers despite their performance being average and their not having won a medal in the National Championships.
“The petitioner has been completely avoided to prove her full performance without any fault of hers, and the petitioner is a fit person and completely deserves selection trials or to participate in the Commonwealth Games, 2010,” she contended.
Earlier, the high court had issued notices to the central government, the Indian Olympic Association and the Wrestling Federation of India over the petition.