Madras HC tells sports body to declare hearing impaired athlete from TN as selected for international competition  

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the All India Sports Council of the Deaf to declare as selected a long jump athlete to participate in the Fourth World Deaf Athletics Championship at Lublin in Poland.

The order was passed by Justice R Mahadevan when a writ petition filed by M Sameeha Barvin came for hearing.  

According to a plea, Sameeha is a disabled person with 90 per cent hearing impairment. Despite such a disability, she had the ability to excel herself in sports events.  

Sameeha had participated in the national selection test conducted at New Delhi on July 22. Among 12 participants, including 10 male and two females, she excelled in jumping a distance of 5.5 metres in the long jump, surpassing the 4.25 metres eligibility. In the female category she had secured the first position.
However, she was not selected to participate in the World Deaf Athletics Championship as the authorities are "not inclined to send a lone female member to the event."

The judge as an interim relief directed Sameeha to report before the Chairman of All India Sports Council of the Deaf.

The court ordered the council to declare the petitioner as selected.