New Delhi, Apr 18: Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) has terminated the services of coach Naval Singh with immediate effect after Paralympic gold-medallist Sumit Antil accused the Dronacharya awardee of mental harassment and verbal abuse in a complaint to the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
In a letter dated Friday but not addressed to any particular individual, PCI president Devendra Jhajharia said Naval has been removed from all Paralympic Committee activities.
"On receiving complaints from Paralympic medallist Mr. Sumit Antil and several others
regarding alleged misconduct, inappropriate behaviour, and harassment by coach Mr. Naval Singh, the matter was carefully reviewed. The complaints were duly examined, and the athletes were given a fair opportunity to present their concerns," the letter said.
"Because the allegations were serious and there was initial evidence of misconduct, the
Paralympic Committee of India held an emergency meeting... After reviewing the oral hearings and written complaints, and considering the seriousness of the concerns and the need to protect athletes’ interests and maintain proper standards, the Committee found that the alleged conduct did not meet expected standards.
"Therefore, the Committee unanimously decided to terminate the services of coach Naval Singh with immediate effect and remove him from all Paralympic Committee activities," Jhajharia wrote in the letter.
Strangely, some PCI officials said that Naval Singh has not been a para athletics coach since 2025 and he has been associated only with able-bodied javelin thrower Sachin Yadav who had finished fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo last year.
"Since 2025, Naval Singh is not designated as the coach of Para Athletics by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). This, we have clarified to the ministry," a PCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Antil, gold-medallist at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympics, also alleged that Naval is "probably mentally unstable" and attempting to disturb top athletes like him and Neeraj Chopra.
"He (Naval Singh) mentally harassed us and abused our, as in mine and Neeraj's, families. He seems mentally unstable," Antil had told PTI
One of India's strongest gold medal hopes in the F64 category (leg amputated) at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, Antil said, "He (Naval) would deliberately share recordings of his abusive rants with our (team) managers, so that they reach us."
The three-time world champion from 2023 to 2025, added that he sent his complaint to SAI and it was endorsed by Neeraj Chopra and fellow para-javelin throwers Navdeep Singh and Sandeep Chaudhary.
SAI had acknowledged receiving the complaint but stated that Naval is not its employee and had been engaged by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to train "another leading athlete as part of National Coaching Camp".
"The coach in question is not a SAI employee and is training another leading athlete as part of National Coaching Camp organised by AFI."
Naval, who was bestowed the Dronacharya in 2015, is currently guiding Sachin Yadav, who had bested two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj at the World Championships last year by finishing fourth. An injury-struck Neeraj had ended 8th at the mega-event.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)
