HC asks Centre to send 9 left-out Taekwondo players, coach to

The Delhi High Court today came to the help of nine left-out Taekwondo players and their coach by asking the Centre and others to "forthwith" grant the administrative approval to their participation in the Asian Games now on in Incheon, South Korea.
"The petition is allowed and the respondents (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, IOA, Sports Authority of India and Taekwondo Federation of India) are directed to forthwith grant the administrative approval for petitioners to participate at the Incheon Games," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said.
The court also said that as per the policy, the Centre "may" foot the bills of players in participating in the Asian Games.

"However, it will be open for respondent no. 1 (Centre) to decline the funding and in that event TFI shall provide the requisite funds...," it said.
The court rapped the Sports Ministry for excluding nine Taekwondo players, including Saurav and Shiv Kumar, and their coach from the Indian contingent of athletes which has gone to South Korea.
"The action of respondent no.1 (Centre) in excluding the names of the petitioners clearly fails the test of fair play and reasonableness. Having led the petitioners to believe that they were selected as participants in the Asian Games and encouraging them to participate in the training programme in Iran for preparation of the said Asian Games, respondent no.1 cannot now be permitted to resile from its representations," it said.

It also said that the criteria adopted by the Centre that an athlete, ranked 6th or below, cannot be sent "has not been uniformly applied across disciplines. Undisputedly, teams and athletes have been approved which are either not ranked or ranked lower than the threshold indicated."
The court had yesterday reserved its order after advocate Bhupesh Narula, appearing for the players, and Geetanjali Sharma, counsel for Sports Authority of India, concluded their arguments.
The plea filed by the father of one of the left-out athletes had sought a direction to the Centre and IOA "to give administrative approval" for the participation of the nine players in the Asian Games Taekwondo competition in their respective weight categories.