The waves of controversy have finally crashed ashore. In a stunning rebuke to India's surfing federation, the Karnataka High Court has ordered a sweeping investigation into how the country selected its athletes for next month's Asian Games—though it stopped short of upending the team itself.

Key facts

  • Court finds Surfing Federation of India violated selection norms
  • Retired Supreme Court Justice R.V. Raveendran to lead inquiry
  • Team selection remains unchanged to avoid prejudicing India's participation
  • Dispute centers on Ramesh Budihal vs Sivaraj Babu placement

A Federation Adrift

Justice Suraj Govindaraj's order cuts through the bureaucratic fog with surgical precision. He found the Surfing Federation of India's special selection committee and executive council had seriously departed from prescribed norms—so much so that he appointed former Supreme Court judge R.V. Raveendran to lead a one-man commission investigating exactly why things went so wrong.

The heart of the dispute? Whether Ramesh Budihal, a bronze medalist at the 2025 Asian Surfing Championship, should have been selected ahead of Tamil Nadu's Sivaraj Babu. Instead, Budihal landed as first reserve while Babu secured the second confirmed spot.

Procedural Wipeout

This isn't the first time selection processes have faced scrutiny. An appeals panel had already overturned the initial selection on June 16, 2026, directing the federation to properly constitute a selection committee and consider athlete performances from January 2025 onward.

What happened next reads like a textbook on how not to run sports governance. The new special selection committee unanimously selected Kishore Kumar as first confirmed athlete and Srikanth D. as second reserve—but deadlocked on Budihal versus Babu. When they suggested a surf-off, one committee member resigned, calling the procedure contrary to norms. With deadlines looming, the executive council then took an "executive call" that the court later ruled was completely without authority.

"Neither the Court nor the commission would determine who is a better surfer but analyse only violation of norms," the Court made it clear.

The Human Cost

Perhaps most damning was the court's expression of anguish that athletes like Budihal—who should be focusing entirely on competition—instead find themselves dragged into prolonged litigation due to administrative failures. The hope now is that Justice Raveendran's commission, tasked with examining 45 specific points in the selection norms, can recommend changes to prevent such disputes from ever happening again.

For now, the surfers will compete as selected when the Asian Games begin in Japan on September 19. But back home, the federation faces rough waters—and a reckoning long overdue.