4 min readBengaluruAug 7, 2026 01:27 PM IST
First published on: Aug 7, 2026 at 01:27 PM IST
Ramesh Budihal, India’s only medal winner at the Asian Surfing Championship last year, has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the Surfing Federation of India’s decision to select him as the first reserve in the men’s surfing event at the Asian Games in Japan, scheduled from September 19 to October 4.
On June 23, the Executive Council of Surfing Federation of India selected Sivaraj Babu to represent India. Budihal, 25, has questioned the decision, saying, “Participating in Asian Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if denied to him, then years of hard work done by him will go in vain.”
The Indian Olympic Association, however, has claimed that the names of selected participants have already been uploaded on the Olympic Council of Asia portal and cannot be changed now.
“If you have put a wrong name, we will delete it. You will not even have any person representing India,” Justice Suraj Govindaraj, whose bench heard Budihal’s plea on Thursday, said. He also pointed out that the Federation and Association exist because of the athletes. “If they are not there, you have no existence,” the court said.
The bench directed the Union of India, the Sports Authority of India, and the Indian Olympic Association to file their replies to Budihal’s plea.
Advocate Manmohan P, appearing for Budihal, submitted that he is India’s only medal winner at that Asian Surfing Championship, and no reason was cited for not selecting him. Budihal had secured the Bronze Medal at the Asian Surfing Championship, 2025.
The plea seeks to recall the forwarded list of the selected athletes for the Asian Games 2026 and requests that a fresh selection committee be constituted to select athletes.
When executive panel selected candidates
The Federation announced the initial list of selected participants on June 3. Aggrieved, Budihal questioned the list before the Federation’s appeals panel. The panel partly allowed the appeal and directed the Surfing Federation to constitute a selection committee to objectively evaluate the competing athletes, according due weightage to performances at the Asian Surfing Championship, furnish reasons for any deviation, and consider the performance of athletes from January 1, 2025, onwards.
However, the selection committee that met on June 20 and 21 to reconsider the selection of athletes in both men’s and women’s categories arrived at a deadlock on the methodology to be adopted to evaluate athletes. It was decided that each voting member would exercise individual assessment of the athletes. Both Budihal and Sivaraj received equal votes from panel members.
The court was informed that thereafter, the Executive Council on June 23 assumed unto itself the power of athlete selection and made an executive call, selecting Sivaraj and placing Budihal as first reserve for the upcoming event. The decision was on the grounds that the selection policy did not provide for a resolution of a deadlock and there was insufficient time to conduct a ‘surf-off’ before the Indian Olympic Association deadline.
Budihal, in his plea, contended that the Executive Council could not select athletes and this should only have been done by a selection committee. “The impugned decision is highly arbitrary, discriminatory, unreasonable and is in violation of Articles 14,19 and 21 of The Constitution of India,” the plea submitted.
Ramesh Budihal had won the Bronze Medal at the Asian Surfing Championship in 2025. (Photo: Instagram:@ram_ram_budihal)
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