Dakar 2026: Delhi HC Upholds Equestrian Selection but Calls for Clearer Criteria

In a judgment dated 17 September 2026, the Delhi High Court declined to interfere with the selection of India’s show jumping rider for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Dakar 2026 (31 October–13 November 2026), the first Olympic event to be held in Africa.[1]

The 16-year-old petitioner was ranked second in the original selection of 6 August 2026 but dropped to third (Reserve Rider 2) on review.

She argued that the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) had retrospectively narrowed the window from 8 November 2025–25 July 2026 to 8 May–25 July 2026, excluding seven of her earlier qualifying scores.

The Court found that no eight-month window had ever been fixed: under the EFI Statute, criteria operate only once promulgated and uploaded on the website (8 May 2026), and both selection decisions had assessed results from that date plus one Certificate of Capability (COC) result per rider.

A 13 May 2026 committee minute selecting her, recorded when only two riders were in contention, did not conclude the process.

On 24 September 2026, a day before the YOG entry deadline, a Division Bench dismissed her appeal (LPA 760/2026).

The Bench held that the lack of clarity did not by itself establish her case, but endorsed the Single Judge’s call for clarity, transparency and consistency, and stated that EFI must frame, communicate and implement selection criteria and timelines with sufficient clarity.

In the connected appeal of Shubh Chowdhari (LPA 761/2026), the Bench upheld EFI’s methodology, including the assessment window and a uniformly applied eight-penalty threshold.

Why it matters

Courts will not redraw an expert body’s order of merit, but they will call out an ambiguous process.

Federations should set the opening and closing dates of the assessment window, thresholds and tie-breakers in the published criteria before selection begins, formally record any withdrawal of an earlier selection, and give reasons. The Bench’s observation that ambiguity itself disrupts athletes’ preparation, made in a minor’s case decided on the eve of the entry deadline, raises the bar for federations under the new governance regime.

[1] Vaasvi Khaitan (Minor) through her father Mr Vedant Khaitan v. Ad-Hoc Committee for the Governance of Equestrian Federation of India & Ors., W.P.(C) 12760/2026