The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld the selection of India’s Dressage team for the 2026 Asian Games. .Dressage is a horse riding sport where a rider and horse perform a series of precise, predetermined movements in an arena.Justice Mini Pushkarna rejected two petitions filed by equestrian riders Sudipti Hajela and Anush Agarwalla challenging the team selection list issued on June 16, under which both petitioners were placed in the reserve list. The Court ruled that the selection process followed by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) was fair and in consonance with the selection criteria. “The selection process is not found to be irrational, arbitrary or perverse in any manner by this Court. As per established law, it is beyond the scope of judicial review by this Court, to substitute its judgment for that of the experts in matters concerning selection of sports persons for international sporting events. Accordingly, this Court is not inclined to interfere with the selection made by the Expert Body in terms of the Selection Criteria,” the Court observed. .In his plea, Agarwalla argued that his score in the Prix St. Georges event at Hagen in Germany should have been considered instead of his Belgium score. This would have secured him a place among the four selected riders, it was contended. He also alleged bias against him due to the participation of a selection committee member with whom he had pending disputes. Hajela challenged the ranking methodology, contending that the EFI should have first considered Team Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) before Individual MERs..However, the High Court rejected both contentions. It held that the EFI had correctly applied its selection criteria by ranking riders based on their two best valid MER scores. The Court also rejected Agarwalla's bias allegation, noting he had participated in the selection process without challenging the committee's composition. .Senior Advocate Kirtiman Singh with advocates Kritika Gupta, Mohit Kumar Sharma, Maulik Khurana and Ritwik Saha appeared for Sudipti Hajela.Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra with advocates Astha Sharma, Anju Thomas, Mantika Haryani, Pratibha Yadav and Bhanu Mishra represented Anush Agarwalla. Advocates Kapil Modi, Rishabh Parikh and Niyati Kohli represented the Equestrian Federation of India. Advocates Udit Dedhiya, Apurva Sachdev, Preyansh Gupta and Varun Malik represented Respondent No 4. .[Read Judgement]
