The Delhi High Court on Thursday questioned whether women athletes could be put at a competitive disadvantage for taking time away from sport due to pregnancy and childbirth, and asked the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to frame guidelines for their return. The high court was hearing Olympian Vinesh Phogat’s petition against her exclusion from the September 14 selection trials for the Senior World Wrestling Championship.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said a policy under which recent medal winners get preference could create an inherent disadvantage for a woman who had been away from competition because of pregnancy, while male athletes continued competing and accumulating the results needed to qualify.The Bench pointed out that during the period a woman gets married, gives birth and looks after her child, male competitors could continue winning medals and securing eligibility.”Such a situation could be deeply unfair unless the sporting body devised a mechanism for athletes returning from maternity breaks,” it said.The observations came during sharp arguments over Vinesh’s attempt to compete in the trials scheduled for September 14.Senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for the Olympian, accused the WFI of “absolute arbitrariness”, arguing that Vinesh was informed of the eligibility criteria only through a September 7 circular, barely a week before the trials.The consequences, he argued, went far beyond missing a single championship.“Effectively, it means I am out of reckoning for two more years and I am finished as an athlete,” Rao submitted on Vinesh’s behalf.The WFI disputed the suggestion that Vinesh had been barred from wrestling.Its counsel told the court that medal winners from 2025 and 2026 were eligible for selection for this year’s World Championship. Vinesh, it argued, remained free to participate at the state and national levels and work her way back into contention.That explanation prompted the Bench to question the policy itself.Justice Sharma said the difficulty was precisely that an athlete returning after childbirth may not have been in a position to compete for the medals on which subsequent eligibility was based.The court said the federation must therefore consider guidelines that strike a balance between two competing considerations, ensuring that the country sends deserving athletes to international competitions while not unfairly closing the door on a woman returning to sport after pregnancy and childbirth.Justice Sharma drew a parallel with women returning to the legal profession after having children, observing that advocates too could find their professional position altered after a maternity break, including losing clients during their absence.The issue, the judge indicated, was one that institutions needed to address rather than leaving women to bear the professional consequences of childbirth.The immediate question before the court, however, remains whether Vinesh should be permitted to participate in the September 14 trials. Justice Sharma said she would decide her applications and pass an order.