India, Jan. 20 -- Can a national-level ice hockey team be picked from players skating on roller blades instead of ice skates? The Bombay High Court is weighing in, staying the selection of the ice hockey team representing Maharashtra at the Khelo India Winter Games 2026, on these very grounds.

Making scathing remarks against the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Maharashtra, the court on Saturday put on hold the selection of a 19-member squad chosen for the games, organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and scheduled to begin in Ladakh on Tuesday.

The bench said "the most shocking factor" was that the state's sports commissioner, Shital Teli Ugale, had ignored a request of the ad-hoc committee of the Ice Hockey Associati...