Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics HPC Terminates Javelin Thrower Suspends Two Athletes In Doping Scandal

The Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar has taken disciplinary action on against three athletes following what the internal documents had described as a performance-enhancing drug-related incident, with one javelin thrower being terminated from the centre immediately and two other athletes were received suspensions of varying length period. The development was first reported by PTI(Press Trust of India), which cited sources close to the matter, and comes amid a difficult stretch for the Bhubaneswar-based centre that has also been facing separate criticism this week over its athleteselection and management policies.

According to the sources, the athlete who was removed from the program is a 30-year-old athlete from Haryana who is a javelin thrower and has a personal best throw of over 81 meters and has also previously won a gold medal at Khelo India University Games.

Then comes the other two athletes who received temporary suspensions are 22-year-old women's 400-meter hurdler from Punjab, a former national champion and national federation senior athletics championship bronze medalist, is suspended for two weeks and has since returned to training. A 24-year-old decathlete from Odisha has won Indian Open title in the first pass, received four weeks suspension and is currently training away from the center. He is expected to return once his suspension ends.

'Syringes and anabolic steroids were allegedly found in their respective rooms'

A source close to the centre explained that the matter came to light around two to three weeks ago during routine room inspections, when the prohibited items were discovered and notices were swiftly issued to all three athletes involved, with the source adding that the centre maintains a strict zero needle policy and enforces it firmly. The javelin thrower received the harshest punishment among the three due to the severity of what was found, while some leniency was shown toward the hurdler and the decathlete in comparison. The source clarified that this action was taken purely under the centre's own internal disciplinary framework and does not form part of any publicly announced anti-doping sanction from a recognised testing authority.

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the centre said it remains committed to maintaining integrity and a zero tolerance approach toward any conduct that breaches its values or violates the rules of Indian and global sport, though the centre's operations director declined to comment further when contacted directly, and repeated attempts to reach the javelin thrower for his side of the story were unsuccessful.

Sportscapefeels that this episode lands at a particularly uncomfortable moment for the Reliance Foundation Odisha HPC, given it surfaces in the same week that a former national record holder publicly accused the centre of sidelining homegrown Odisha athletes in favour of recruits from other states.

This incident now raised a serious concern about how the whole system is being monitored and supported at the centre that is considered one of India's leading athletics training programs, where three athletes were found to be linked to prohibited substances within a short period of time. The fact that each athlete has received a different punishment tells that the centre looked at each case separately, individually before making a particular decision. So it shows that how the centre deals with the situation in the coming weeks will be very important and it will be noted seriously. As people will expect clear-cut answers about what happened and what steps the authorities are going to take to prevent similar incidents in the future.