Promising runner Parvej fails doping test

Top Indian middle distance runner Parvej Khan, who recently made headlines in the country with his exploits at the NCAA circuit in the United States of America, has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test.

The 19-year-old Khan stares at a maximum ban of four years if he is proved guilty of doping.

"Yes, he (Parvej Khan) has been provisionally suspended (by the NADA) after failing a dope test," a top source privy to the development told PTI on Friday.

The date of commencement of the provisional suspension handed by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is not known. The nature of the banned substance could also not be confirmed.

It is almost certain that his dope sample was collected during the National Inter-State Championships (June 27 to 30) in Panchkula where he was competing in a domestic event for the first time after the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar in June 2023.

Khan had won the men's 1500m gold in Panchkula with a time of 3 minute 42.95 seconds. He had missed the Paris Olympics qualifying time of 3:33.50 by a fair distance.

He was hailed as the new Indian track sensation as he became the first from the country to qualify for the final of a track event in the NCAA Championships of the United States earlier this year. He is currently studying at the University of Florida on scholarships.

Khan belongs to a poor farming family at Chahalka village in Mewat region of Haryana. less than 100km from New Delhi. He had won the 1500m gold in the 2022 National Games with a new personal best of 3.40.89 in Gandhinagar.

He won the 800m gold at the U-16 Nationals in Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, in 2019, took bronze over the same distance at the Khelo India Youth Games (U-18) the next year before winning his first senior race -- the 1500m at the National Open Championships in Warrangal in 2021.

He bagged a 1500m silver at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai in 2022 and won a gold over the same distance in the National Open in Bengaluru in the same year.

Khan clocked a personal best time of 3:36.21 in 1500m at the Portland Track Festival on June 9 in the USA, the second fastest time by an Indian behind Jinson Johnson's national record 3:35.24 in 2019.