SAI suspends olympian PT Paulose over sexual harassment allegations

New Delhi, April 25 The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has suspended Olympian and Asian Games medallist rower PT Paulose, who served as the High Performance Director at the National Centre of Excellence in Alleppey, following the sexual harassment allegations levelled by a female rowing coach, sources told IANS.

"49-year-old Paulose has been suspended after a female assistant rowing coach filed a complaint in January this year,” a Sports Authority of India (SAI) source told IANS. "Upon receiving the complaint, SAI initiated a departmental inquiry against him, which is currently underway."

The female coach filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Paulose late last year. According to the allegations, he began harassing her at the start of 2025. During this period, he sent her inappropriate messages and even entered her room.

The source added that Paulose was transferred to SAI’s Imphal centre earlier this month to prevent any possibility of him influencing the investigation or intimidating the complainant. “Appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the inquiry,” the source said.

Paulose, who became the first Indian rower to participate in the Olympics when competed in the men's single sculls at the 2004 Games, won a bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games in the coxless four event with Jenil Krishnan, Inderpal Singh and Roshan Lal. He was appointed as the high-performance director of the Indian team by the Rowing Federation of India.

Last month, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya revealed that there are 33 sexual harassment complaints filed against personnel from the SAI over the last 10 years. Eight of these complaints of sexual harassment are against administrative staff of SAI and 25 are registered against their coaches.

Mandaviya also revealed that the contracts of two coaches have been terminated and six suspensions were made pertaining to these cases.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor