SC rejects riders’ pleas over Asian Games dressage team selection

The Supreme Court dismissed pleas by riders Anush Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela challenging their exclusion from India's Asian Games dressage team, saying courts should avoid interfering in individual sports selection matters while encouraging institutional reforms for future selections

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed pleas challenging the Delhi High Court’s refusal to interfere with the non-selection of riders Anush Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela in India’s dressage team for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe refused to grant any relief to the riders, saying the court is very reluctant to interfere in individual sports matters.

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“This court would be very reluctant to keep interfering in sports. We can only do it in the context of institutional issues … Individual persons coming at the last dates are getting worse …,” the bench told senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for both the riders.

Singh submitted that both riders have an order of the division bench in their favour, but the Equestrian Federation opposed the government’s suggestion that the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Authority of India will evaluate them.

He added that they have been put on a waitlist and need consideration as per the settled process. The bench said it is not concerned with the individual cases, but if counsels want to assist on the institutional issue, the court will accept it.

“We will help you streamline and institutionalise the process so that such a problem does not arise in the future,” the bench observed, while pointing out that the individual cases chapter is closed.

The Asian Games will be held from September 19 to October 4. Last week, Supreme Court judge KV Viswanathan recused himself from hearing the riders’ pleas.

On July 6, the high court refused to interfere with the non-selection of Agarwalla and Hajela, upholding a single judge’s denial of relief to the two.

Both riders won gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games and filed petitions against the selections made by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI). Dismissing the riders’ appeals, the high court earlier said that while it did not find any infirmity with the preparation of the list of probables, the EFI had failed to comply with certain clauses of the selection criteria.

It, however, maintained that a fresh trial was not possible at this stage and exercised “restraint” in the larger interest of sports and to avoid any adverse impact on the country’s prospects at the Asian Games.

“Having regard to the deadline of July 15, 2026, it is logistically impractical to conduct a further competition within the time frame available, particularly since the riders and horses are located at different places across the globe and transporting horses from different locations to a common venue for conducting a competition amongst all six probables would not be possible in such a short span of time,” the high court said.

“We are constrained to refrain from interfering with the impugned judgement,” it added. The court nonetheless asked the EFI to strictly comply with the selection criteria.

On June 29, the single judge upheld the EFI’s selection process for the Asian Games dressage team, dismissing petitions filed by Agarwalla and Hajela. The judge held that the selection criteria were applied fairly and there was no arbitrariness, perversity or procedural impropriety warranting judicial interference.

Both riders challenged the June 16 selection list issued by the EFI’s ad hoc committee for the dressage event at the Asian Games, where they were placed as reserve riders — Agarwalla as first reserve and Hajela as second reserve — while four riders were selected ahead of them.

The single judge, however, rejected all their challenges, including objections to the calculation of minimum eligibility requirements, the interpretation of the selection criteria, the absence of additional selection trials and allegations of bias in the selection committee.