Delhi High Court orders AFI to consider Tejaswin Shankar for CWG

The order comes after Tejaswin's exclusion from the team despite meeting the qualifying standard compelled him to approach the High Court.

High jumper Tejaswin Shankar achieved the Commonwealth Games qualification mark (2.25m) with a leap of 2.27m in the NCAA, USA's national college sports competition, earlier this month.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) selection committee to consider high jumper Tejaswin Shankar for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and not be left out merely for the reason that he did not participate in the recently concluded Inter-State Athletics championships.

The High Court's order came after Tejaswin wasn't included in India's 37-member athletics squad, despite him being the only high jumper to have met the qualifying standard of 2.27m at the NCAA Championship.

His exclusion from the team compelled him to make an appeal to the High Court .

The AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said that Tejaswin was not considered because he had made the jump in the USA, not at the Inter-State Championships, which the AFI said was the last competition to earn the qualification mark for the CWG.

Delhi HC directs Athletics Federation of India to consider High jumper NR Tejaswin Shankar for selection to the Indian team for the CWG and not be left out merely for the reason that he did not participate in the Inter State championships.

— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) June 22, 2022

 

Sumariwalla also said that the high jumper didn't seek exemption from the federation not to compete in Inter-State athletics.

"Mr. Shankar did not want to be selected. Mr. Shankar did not ask to be exempted from the Inter State Championships. He did not take permission from us before he competed in the USA,” Sumariwalla had said during a press conference.

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"We allowed only three players to not participate in the Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai - Neeraj (Chopra), Seema (Punia) and (Avinash) Sable. It was clearly mentioned on the website this was the last event where one could try to register the qualification standard for the Commonwealth Games and Senior World Athletics Championships," Sumariwalla added.

The AFI announced the Indian athletics squad last week but surprisingly left out the high jumper. Tejaswin, a student of Kansas State University in the USA, breached the CWG qualification mark (2.25m) with a leap of 2.27m at the NCAA Championship, USA's national college sports competition, earlier this month.