New Delhi : The Supreme Court directed the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) to recommend Naresh Kumar Sharma as an additional participant in the 50-meter parashooter event at the Tokyo Paralympics, which starts from August 24. This is a huge relief for the 5-time Paralympian shooter and Arjuna Award winner.
The deadline for submitting names for the Paralympic events is today. The PCI has been instructed to report on the order’s compliance by tomorrow. Naresh Kumar Sharma had filed a complaint with the Court, claiming that the PCI had made an arbitrary and prejudiced decision in not choosing him for the Tokyo event.
A court of justices A M Khanwilkar, BR Gavai, and Krishna Murari ordered the PCI to send the Arjuna awardee shooter to the sports event in an emergency hearing. The bench took note of senior lawyer Vikas Singh’s representations on behalf of the shooter that August 2 was the deadline for selection and that three shooters might be sent together.
Sharma said that the PCI Selection Committee used the qualifying criterion set down in the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 incorrectly while shortlisting applicants. He had claimed that the Committee had chosen one Deepak for the Tokyo Paralympics incorrectly.
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According to him, a para shooter must have competed in at least two WSPS-approved international tournaments to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics (World Shooting Para Sports). Singh pointed out that the alleged Deepak had only taken part in one of these events.
According to a single-judge ruling issued by the high court on July 27, PCI’s actions concerning another player’s selection over Sharma were unbecoming of a public sports body that must maintain a fair, transparent, and inclusive attitude.
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On the other hand, the court had declined to intervene with the other player’s selection over Sharma at this late point, citing the fact that the shooting team was already in a bubble. Sharma has filed an appeal with a division bench of the Delhi High Court against a Single Judge judgement refusing to intervene in the Paralympic Committee of India’s (PCI) decision to exclude him from the selection list of athletes qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics.
