Asian Games 2026: Karnataka High Court orders enquiry into Indian surfing team selection

The Karnataka High Court has ordered an enquiry into the Surfing Federation of India's (SFI) selection process for the 2026 Asian Games, appointing a former Supreme Court judge to examine alleged procedural lapses in how the four-member squad was picked.

It is to be noted that the 492-athlete list cleared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports last month doesn't feature any surfer.

The Karnataka High Court order comes on a petition filed by Ramesh Budihal, a 25-year-old bronze medallist at the 2025 Asian Surfing Championship, who challenged his exclusion from the main squad after the SFI named him only as a reserve.

Hearing the plea, Justice Suraj Govindaraj had earlier directed the Union government, the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association to file their responses.

The Indian Olympic Association argued that the athlete list had already been uploaded to the Olympic Council of Asia portal and could not be revised at this stage, an argument the court did not accept as grounds to close the matter without scrutiny.

Budihal's counsel, advocate Manmohan P, told the court that his client remains India's only medallist from the previous Asian Surfing Championship and that the federation had offered no explanation for overlooking him for primary selection.

The petition sought a recall of the submitted list and the constitution of an independent selection panel.

It followed weeks of friction inside the federation. After an initial list was released on June 3, Budihal's appeal to the SFI's internal panel was partly upheld, with the federation directed to set up a dedicated selection committee, whose findings are now central to the court's enquiry.

Meanwhile, the SFI has already named Kishore Kumar and Sivaraj Babu in the men's category, with Kamali Moorthy and Sugar Shanti Banarse forming the women's team, for the Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

Budihal and Srikanth D were listed as men's reserves, while Shrishti Selvam and Devi Ramanathan were named reserves for the women.

The SFI said the selections followed evaluation of the national surfing series, dedicated camps and international performances by its Asian Games Selection Committee.