Paralympic gold medallist Sumit Antil, backed by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, has lodged a formal complaint against coach Naval Singh, alleging mental harassment and verbal abuse, raising concerns about athlete welfare.
Paralympic gold-medallist Sumit Antil, endorsed by Olympic superstar Neeraj Chopra, has accused Dronacharya awardee coach Naval Singh of mental harassment and verbal abuse in a complaint to the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
SAI 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".
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.
Antil, gold-medallist at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games, also alleged that Naval is "probably mentally unstable" and attempting to disturb top athletes like him and Neeraj Chopra. Naval has also extensively worked with para-athletes.
"He (Naval Singh) mentally harassed us and abused our, as in mine and Neeraj's, families. He seems mentally unstable," Antil 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."
In response, a SAI source said the matter is being duly taken up with the federation.
"A complaint has been received from Sumit Antil, Paralympic Gold Medalist, alleging verbal abuse by Coach Mr. Naval Singh. The complaint has also been supported by other athletes, including Neeraj Chopra," the source said,
"The coach in question is not a SAI employee and is training another leading athlete as part of National Coaching Camp organised by AFI."
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.
"It has been a week since we complained to D G SAI (Hari Ranjan Rao) and CEO TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme). TOPS CEO (N S Johal) wanted us to (make a) compromise in the first hearing.
"We ignored this matter for a long time but decided to complain after it became too much. I filed the complaint and Neeraj bhai, Navdeep Singh and Sandeep Chaudhary endorsed it," he added.
He questioned the silence SAI's silence after the filing of the complaint.
"Point is if athletes of our stature are not heard then what can others expect. The complaint has not even got an acknowledgement till now," he said.
"And, I am unable to understand why this coach is doing what he is doing. Maybe he wants Sachin Yadav to beat Neeraj bhai because Sachin trains with him," he alleged.