Olympic trial: Sushil likely to move SC post plea dismissal, says coach

Dejected by the Delhi High Court's decision to dismiss Sushil Kumar's plea seeking a selection trial with compatriot Narsingh Yadav in the 74 kg men's freestyle category for the upcoming Rio Olympics, coach Satpal Singh on Monday said that they are mulling moving to double bench or the Supreme Court for the same.

While pronouncing the verdict, Justice Manmohan had observed that the court will not interfere in the jurisdiction of the Wrestling Federation of India unless arbitrary or unreasonable behaviour is shown, insisting that the autonomy of the body is an integral part of the selection process.

Satpal said that Sushil had moved the court challenging the WFI's decision to prefer Narsingh for Olympics and now the honorary judge has again put the ball in the sport's governing body's court.

"We went to the High Court to appeal against the WFI's decision and it has again put the ball in the sport's governing body's court. He just asked for a trial. We are thinking over to appeal in double bench or the Supreme Court. We will take the decision after reading the judgment," Satpal told media here.

Highlighting Sushil's contribution towards the nation, the coach said that he found the decision really peculiar, especially because the two-time Olympic medallist is currently in his best form of his career.

"Now we will sit with the entire team and will read and discuss the judgment made by the High Court. I find the decision really odd because Sushil is in his best form of the career at the moment. He has never reached at this level so far. Sushil has had contributed a lot for the country. He is the only athlete who has won two Olympic gold medals and a gold medal in World Championship. He has always been in top," said Satpal.

Satpal further insisted that the wrestler did not ask the WFI to send him directly to Rio, but had instead requested them to hold just a trial.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Pradeep Dewan, representing the WFI, said that the court found the sport's governing body's selection process transparent and ruled out any interference from the court.

"The honorary High Court in its judgement said that they did not find anything perverse which may call for any interference by the court in exercise of its jurisdiction in decision of the federation in selection of Narsingh Yadav," Dewan had said.

Ruling out the need of compulsory trials for Olympics, the court also agreed with the WFI's stand to send only those athletes to the Rio games who clinched the berth in the qualifying tournaments.

Earlier, the two-time Olympics gold-medallist had approached the court after the WFI picked Narsingh over Sushil in the list of probables sent to the Indian Olympic Association for the Rio.

While Narsingh had insisted that going to the Brazilian capital is his right as he secured the quota in the 74-kg category with a bronze medal finish in last year's World Championships, Sushil, who won gold in the same category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and had been missing in action since then, called for trials to be conducted to determine who should go to Rio.

Although the 32-year-old can still challenge the ruling in the apex court, the Delhi High Court's ruling is seen as the end of the road for Sushil.