Delhi High Court directs Athletics Federation to consider High Jumper Tejaswin Shankar's case for Commonwealth Games

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the selection committee of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to consider national high jump record holder Tejaswin Shankar's case for being sent to the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG)..Single-judge Justice Jasmeet Singh said that the committee shall consider Shankar’s case on merits of his jump and the fact that he did not participate in the inter-state championships may not be the sole criteria for rejecting his candidature.“It is directed that the selection committee shall consider the case of the petitioner on merits of his jump and the fact that he has not participated in inter-state championships may not be the sole criteria for rejecting his candidature,” Justice Singh has said in his order.The selection committee is scheduled to meet today (Wednesday)..The direction came while Justice Singh was hearing a writ petition by the national champion challenging his exclusion from the CWG squad.The games are scheduled to start from July 22 in Birmingham.In his petition, Shankar had argued that he was disqualified from participating in the CWG games based on non-attendance at championship.It was argued that he should be allowed to participate based on his jump in the NCAA championship where he achieved the qualifying jump of 2.27m while representing Kansas State University.His counsel further stated that he had sought exemption from the state championships by sending a message to the national coach and his record shows that he is the third highest jumper participating in the CWG as things stand today..The court will now consider the case on Friday (24 June)..Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for the petitioner.AFI and Selection Committee were represented through advocate Parth Goswami while advocate Vineet Dhanda appeared for the Union.