Delhi Basketball Players petition High Court for Nationals Certificates

The two players - Kaina Gupta and Sarthak Rana - needed the certificates in order to apply for sports quota admission in Delhi University for the 2023-24 academic year.

Delhi basketball players - Kaina Gupta and Sarthak Rana - were forced to approach the High Court recently, seeking the issuance of participation certificates from last year’s U18 National Basketball Championships.

The players had participated in the first phase of the 72nd Junior National Basketball Championships held in October 2022, for which certificates had still not been distributed to them.

The denial of certificates was consequently depriving them of the chance to gain admission to Delhi University (DU) under sports quota for the 2023-24 academic year.

As per a counter-affidavit filed by Basketball Federation of India (BFI), the entire matter arose due to the alleged failure of the “old body of BFI” to hand over all the documents to the newly elected office bearers. As a result, the new BFI regime is unable to verify the claims of the petitioners.

On August 4, while granting interim relief to the basketball players, Delhi High Court judge Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav directed BFI to issue provisional certificates and mandated the University of Delhi to recognize the same for the purpose of admissions.

Subsequently, it has been learnt that both players have successfully managed to get admission to DU colleges. Ms Gupta is enrolled in the BA Honours Course at Lady Sriram College, while Mr Rana has joined Hansraj College in the Economics Honours program.