Odisha’s sports and youth services department suspended an Olympic swimmer turned coach Sandeep Sejwal from his position as head coach at the High Performance Swimming Centre in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.
The action was taken following allegations of physcial and mental abuse by his students.
Sandeep Sejwal, the head coach of SW-IIS swimming programme, has been suspended till the departmental probe is over, director of sports promotion in the state sports department, Deepankar Mohapatra, said.
“We received the players’ letter in our office. We will make an official inquiry soon. If anyone is found guilty, appropriate action will be taken,” Mohapatra told the New Indian Express.
The departmental probe will question around 50 youngsters from various districts. On Saturday night, witnesses from the sports hostel threatened to boycott their dinner if their complaints were not addressed.
“We are continuously being threatened with expulsion if we oppose his abusive behaviour. The coach uses sexist language and has physically assaulted some of our friends during training session,” one of the complainant from the centre was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
The swimming centre was built in collaboration with the JSW Group led by Sajjan Jindal in 2022.
“He often threatens to throw us out of the hostel. Students who perform well in the hostel are removed from the group, and then the coaches meet them personally and physically assault them for no reason. The support staff also uses extremely foul language,” a swimmer was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
Sejwal was unavailable for a comment.
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