For Vinesh Phogat, justice has never arrived in the form of a clean verdict. It has usually come late, bruised, contested, and wrapped in another fight. Ahead of the Asian Games selection trials scheduled to be held on May 30-31, Vinesh is gearing up for another battle, where the bigger question is whether one of India's fiercest athletes will merely end up as just another file, or the Indian sporting fraternity has the courage to treat her as an athlete who belongs to the mat, not just a technicality wrapped between papers.

While this might end up as one of the many chapters Vinesh has flipped over the course of her sporting career, irrespective of the outcome, the Delhi High Court allowing the grappler to participate in the selection trials for the 2026 Asian Games would have raised hopes of her participation, which now hangs by a piece of thread with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) challenging the verdict in the Supreme Court. This was after the 31-year-old appealed against an interim order passed by a single-judge Bench that refused to grant interim relief in Phogat's pending writ petition against the WFI's selection policy, and the show-cause notice issued against her.

A division bench of the Delhi High Court, comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, observed in its May 22 order, "It is acknowledged that the motherhood cannot be treated as a professional impediment or a circumstance warranting adverse treatment. A legal and regulatory framework that either expressly or impliedly disadvantages a woman on account of pregnancy or post partum recovery would clearly violate the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution of India.”

“Becoming a mother is a great virtue and the laws and society always have given respect to mothers. Becoming a mother is both an intimate transformation and a social moment. Across cultures and histories, motherhood has been celebrated and supported in widely different ways. At the same time, becoming mother can never become a disability,” the High Court said in its verdict.

That observation is bigger than one wrestler.

It speaks to a question Indian sport has avoided for too long: what happens when a woman athlete becomes a mother? Is she seen as an athlete returning to competition, or as a problem to be accommodated? In Vinesh’s case, the High Court seemed to recognise that rigid rules, when applied without sensitivity, can become instruments of exclusion.

But just as relief appeared within reach, WFI moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The federation has challenged the decision, arguing that courts should not interfere with selection matters and that Vinesh’s eligibility remains disputed because of rules linked to return from retirement and anti-doping compliance.

"The repeated approach to the courts implies that the grievance redressal mechanism, disciplinary procedures, and protection of athletes are still not up to the mark and need inevitable changes so that it can be brought to international norms. The often interference of only courts makes justice reactive rather than systemic, adding delay, cost and uncertainty for athletes," he told Sports Now.

That makes this story legally complex but emotionally incredibly simple. The same sport that has given Vinesh the recognition, fame, money, and a platform to represent the country globally has repeatedly broken her heart in ways she could not have imagined.

In the Paris Olympics 2024, in what turned out to be a dream run for the Indian grappler, where she found herself tantalisingly close to clinching gold in the women’s 50kg freestyle final, almost at the cusp of becoming the first women wrestler to be competing for the supreme prize at the Olympics, she crumbled to dust as the brutal weigh-in saw her 100 grams over the limit. As fate had it, the Olympic gold that was within touching distance just a few hours back slipped away like sand between her fingers, there for a fleeting moment, before heartbreak washed it away.

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