Hughes v Paddle Australia

The Applicant nominated for selection in the 2022 Under 23 World Championships team and took part in various selection competitions as required by the Policy. He was not selected for the World Championships, and by this appeal against his non-selection, he sought in particular, selection as the Men’s K1 for the Under 23 World Championships and to be categorised as “developing” in 2022. The Applicant contended that the Respondent failed to apply discretionary allowances equally to all U23 Athletes resulting in the Respondent’s Selection Panel exhibiting actual bias in the allocation of team positions; and follow the guidelines set out in clause 1 of the Policy to apply fair, consistent and transparent procedures and criteria in their use of discretionary allowances for the selection of Athletes to the U23 Team.

The Tribunal dismissed the Appeal against non-selection of Mr Ryan Hughes to 2022 Australian U23 K1M Team and determined that the matter of categorisation of athletes is strictly for the sporting body.