Bad News For Indian Athletes, Hyderabad HC Calls Sports Quota Illegal, Wants It To Be Scrapped

Even while the entire country is celebrating the success of Sakshi Malik in freestyle wrestling in Rio, the country's first medal in the ongoing Olympics, the sports fraternity in the country was in for a rude shock- this time from the judiciary.

PTI

A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday ruled that quota for admissions under the sports category is illegal.

"It is sad to note that except video games, all other games that one could conceive of have been brought within the sports quota to enable persons who cannot excel in studies to gain admission into medical courses through the backdoor," a bench of justices Ramasubramanian and Anis said.

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Calling up on all state governments to scrap quota for sports the court said “it is high time that there is a rethink on such quotas with no constitutional basis. Reservation for such quotas neither help students become great sports persons in life nor become great professionals in other fields.”?

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The court observation came in a petition filed by filed by a student challenging NTR University of Health Sciences' decision to not consider her for an MBBS seat under the sports quota.

While the court observation of "gaining admission through backdoor" might be true to a certain extend in professional courses, scrapping the quota system will shatter the entire junior/ ameture sports system in the country.?

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A huge majority of the junior level athletes in India have made it passed schools only through the quota system, as their academic performance takes a backseat while they are busy with their training or competitions.