Despite court order, India’s No.1 skier left out of Winter Olympics squad

New Delhi: The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics have begun in different iconic towns of the Italian Alps, with approximately 2871 athletes from 92 participating countries vying for 195 medals across 16 disciplines.For India, however, the build-up to the Games has been marred by allegations of favouritism, bias and internal politics, with the country’s No 1 skier, Manjeet Kumar, missing out on his maiden Winter Olympics appearance despite a favourable Delhi High Court order. The court directed the sports ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to make “all reasonable efforts” to ensure the Army man was allowed to participate in the multisport event.

An ad-hoc committee, formed by the IOA, has been managing governance matters and selection of athletes while looking to resolve a long-standing administrative dispute which affected the management of ski and snowboarding in the country.India named a seven-member contingent for the Games, including two athletes, alpine skier Arif Khan and cross-country skier Stanzin Lundup. Amitabh Sharma, president of the Ice-Skating Association of India (ISAI), is the contingent’s chef-de-mission (CDM).

However, the selection of Lundup has generated controversy.In court, the IOA and its ad-hoc body argued that Lundup’s name was considered because it formed part of the long list of entries, in addition to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) rejection to extend the deadline, the International Federation’s (FIS) refusal to add any new name of athlete, and Lundup fulfilling a selection criteria of participating in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Feb-March 2025 in Norway’s Trondheim.Manjeet, talking to TOI, offered a point-by-point rebuttal of IOA’s defense. As per the rankings available, Manjeet is India’s No.1 cross-country skier in the world, followed by Shubam Parihar, Padma Namgail and Lundup. “The ministry, IOA and its ad-hoc panel need to answer why was my name originally not included in the long list when it was submitted in Sept 2025? Why was my name not considered when the final list of athletes was forwarded to the organisers, and not sent to them directly as they would have taken the final call?” he asked.“Instead, it was sent to the FIS (global body) which didn’t accept my late entry. Also, at the Ski Worlds, Lundup won a quota place for the Games. The international rules are clear: the quota belongs to the “country” and not “individual”, he said.Speaking to TOI from Bormio, one of the venues for the Games, CDM Sharma said, “IOA made the final selection. I don’t have much to say about this matter. I am here to look after the well-being of our athletes.”It’s been also learnt that the ministry cleared the contingent, two athletes, one CDM and four team officials, at ‘no cost to the govt’. Preferably, for any major multisport event, the ministry sends the official contingent bearing the entire cost. In this case, while the athletes’ expenses and boarding and lodging were taken care of by the organisers, the IOA funded the trip of the CDM and travelling officials.The reason is that the ministry does not recognise the Winter Games associations as a National Sports Federation (NSF).

While the Ice Hockey Federation of India (IHFI) has been classified as a ‘National Sports Promotion Organisation’, the ISAI does not enjoy any such status. For ski and snowboarding affairs in India, an IOA-run ad-hoc body is in place.Talking about India's presence at the Games, Sharma said Khan’s main competition round in the men’s slalom event will take place on Feb 16, while Lundup will be in action on Feb 13. “This will be Khan’s second successive appearance at the Winter Olympics after Beijing 2022.

His event will take place at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio. Khan qualified for the Games through world rankings after earning the basic quota. Lundup will compete in cross-country skiing in men’s 10 km freestyle in Lago di Tesero.

India was awarded one quota (wildcard) and that was offered to Lundup,” Sharma added.Sharma added that the only concern during the Games was the long travel time between venues. “Khan is stationed in Bormio and Lundup in Predazzo. So, we have two Indian contingents at two different places. The travel time is 5-6 hours by road depending upon the snowfall and other weather conditions. It’s very difficult to make those trips. This is by far the most spread-out Winter Olympics ever,” he said.