Commonwealth Games 2022: Delhi High Court dismisses pleas by 2 paddlers against exclusion

The Delhi High Court on Monday (June 20) dismissed the pleas moved by table tennis players Manush Shah, and Swastika Ghosh, challenging their exclusion from the Indian team for the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games. The players have been knocking the doors of the high court after they were dropped by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), running the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), from the final list for the CWG squad.

“Petitioner is ranked number 4 in the national ranking and as per the combined points of both national and international ranking as per the existing criterion, she is having 41 points+20 coaches points which come to 61 points whereas Manika Batra is only having 30 points from international ranking and zero points from India ranking as she is number 33 in India,” the plea, moved by Swastika, said.

“It is further submitted that in the entire camp, the focus was only on doubles and to see how the respondent 1 (TTFI) can include Archana Kamath, G. Sathiyan, and Manika Batra as all three cannot fit under the existing criterion,” it stated.

On June 7, the CoA had said it has included Diya Chitale in the squad, and finalised the selection list, putting all the controversies to rest related to the team selection in a detailed minutes of meeting. Chitale, who had approached the Delhi High Court over her exclusion from the women’s CWG squad, has been included in the side for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the CoA said.

Recounting Manika Batra's CWG 2018 heroics on her special day! Happy birthday @manikabatra_TT!
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She will lead the charge again for India at #CWG2022. Can she do even better? pic.twitter.com/R6vMAOTibo — Women's SportsZone (@WSportsZone) June 15, 2022

It had clarified that the decision reported in the media was only the recommendation of the selection committee, not the final decision of the COA. The team was supposed to get final clearance from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) but the Sports Ministry said that it is the responsibility of the CoA which is running the federation to select the team. After that, the selection committee, chaired by CoA member SD Mudgil, met again and finalised the team.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.

(with PTI inputs)