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Ice hockey trials held on rough tiles; ‘shocked’ HC stays Maharashtra’s Khelo India Winter Games selection

The Bombay High Court also criticises Maharashtra's Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs for excluding 20 national-level players who had earlier participated in Khelo India Winter Games.

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jan 20, 2026 08:33 PM IST

The Bombay High Court issued notice to Maharashtra government on UK doctor Sangram Patil’s plea seeking quashing of FIR. (File Photo)

Expressing shock over Maharashtra’s Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs conducting ice hockey trials for Khelo India Winter Games 2026 on rough tiles instead of an ice rink, the Bombay High Court last week stayed the team’s selection till further orders.

The court also criticised the sports authority for selecting all 19 participants while excluding 20 national-level players who had earlier participated in Khelo India Winter Games.

Khelo India Winter Games, organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), began at Leh in Ladakh on Tuesday.

“The most shocking factor in the selection process conducted by Respondent Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Maharashtra, through its Commissioner Shital Teli Ugale (IAS), is that the Ice Hockey Rink (facility for playing Ice Hockey) available with the Phoenix Millenium Mall (at Wakad in Pune District) was ignored by the Respondent…And very shockingly, the selection was conducted on rough tiles which are commonly known in Maharashtra as Shahabadi stone, which is known for its roughness,” a bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Abhay J Mantri said in its January 17 order.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by five ice hockey players from Sangli and Pune challenging the selection.

The court said the directorate published a notice on January 12 announcing the trials to be conducted “on such a rough floor by using roller skates”, ignoring the direction of an ad-hoc committee of the Ice Hockey Association of Maharashtra. The trials were held at the SMT Skating Sports facility in Nigdi, Pune, on January 13.

“19 persons suddenly became applicants and all of them who were tested in such circumstances on a single day on January 13, 2026, were selected. The team comprises 6 players, and 19 were inducted in the contingent,” the order stated.

The court further noted that the ad-hoc committee protested through an email on January 12, urging the use of the Phoenix Millennium Mall facility to select players.

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“This is how a team of 19 persons, for a team actually comprising 6 players who actually play a match with a competing team, were selected. There is no dispute that these 19 persons were selected via a selection conducted on a rough flooring with undulations. We are informed that out of these 19 selected persons, only one has played in a competition. Rest 18 are those who have not played in any tournament,” the order added.
Ice Hockey Association of India’s email

On January 15, the Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) emailed the directorate, emphasising on its “moral and professional responsibility to ensure that deserving and meritorious players represent Maharashtra”. It also highlighted that 20 athletes with proven national-level experience were “unjustly excluded”.

“In the light of the above, it is quite visible that those 20 players whose names are mentioned in the email were National Players who have been participating in Winter Games at the National Level, and two of them represented the Indian Contingent of Under-20 Boys at the International Level. All of them have been left out,” the court noted.

The court issued a notice to the authorities seeking their response to the plea during the next hearing, slated for February 18.

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“By way of interim relief, the selection of the 19 players made by the State Directorate shall stand stayed until further orders,” the court held.