A dispute over who gets to pick India’s esports squad for the 2026 Asian Games has reached the Delhi High Court. The E Sports Games Federation has filed a petition challenging the authority of the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) to select and nominate athletes for the Games, set to take place in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4, 2026.
The case puts a direct question in front of the court: which body actually has the legal right to choose Team India for esports at the Asian Games.
What the Petition Asks For
The E Sports Games Federation wants the Delhi High Court to direct the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to disclose the legal basis for ESFI’s selection process. The petition asks both bodies to clarify under what notification, order, resolution or delegation ESFI has been authorised to identify athletes, build a shortlist and nominate India’s esports contingent.
The petitioner has also asked the court to restrain ESFI from presenting itself as the exclusive or officially recognised authority for Team India selection unless that authority is expressly backed by law. It wants any future selection process to run only through a body recognised under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, the National Sports Development Code and the IOA’s own constitution and bye-laws.
Neither ESFI nor the E Sports Games Federation has commented on the matter so far.
Ministry and IOA Named in the Case
The petition names the Union of India and other parties as respondents, with ESFI listed as Respondent No. 3. The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and the IOA were pulled in because the petitioner wants both to state clearly what gives ESFI its mandate.
Counsel for the Ministry and IOA accepted service on advance notice. The remaining respondents will be served through other permitted modes, including electronically. The Delhi High Court has issued a procedural order and has not ruled on whether ESFI’s authority is valid. Respondents get four weeks to file counter affidavits, and the petitioner then has two weeks to respond. The matter is listed for October 1, 2026.
This is not the first time ESFI’s standing has been questioned. Back in 2021, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports stated publicly that it did not recognise ESFI as an official representative body for esports in India, a gap that has resurfaced in the current legal challenge.
How ESFI Has Run Team India Selections So Far
ESFI has been the body running India’s esports qualification process for several editions of the Asian Games. Before the 2022 Hangzhou Games, ESFI had to seek government clearance for its qualifiers, a step outlined in earlier coverage of MeitY’s approval requirement for India’s Asian Games esports entry.
For the 2026 Games, ESFI opened registrations for the National Esports Championships 2026 (NESC 2026) between February 21 and March 7, positioning the tournament as the official qualifier for India’s Asian Games esports squad. The event covers ten titles, including Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Pokemon Unite, League of Legends and eFootball, feeding into eight medal events at the Games.
The Legal Backdrop
The petition leans on the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, India’s first comprehensive statutory framework for sports body recognition, which came into force in parts from December 2025. The Act sets out how national sports federations are recognised and governed, and it created a dedicated Sports Tribunal to handle exactly this kind of dispute going forward. More detail on the Act’s scope is available on its Wikipedia entry.
Esports is still working out where it fits inside India’s formal sporting structure. Selection authority for a national team carries real weight, since it decides who competes for India on an international stage and which federation gets to speak for the discipline. As reported in the original filing details from Exchange4Media, the court has stopped short of taking a side for now.
What Happens Next
The October 1 hearing is the next point to watch. Responses from the Ministry, the IOA and ESFI could offer the first real clarity on what legal instrument, if any, backs ESFI’s selection role. Until then, ESFI’s NESC 2026 process and the athletes shortlisted through it remain in place, with the court yet to decide whether that authority holds up.
