Mohammad Yunus Khan, the athletics coach who guided distance runner Gulveer Singh during his formative years, has been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) over an alleged anti-doping rule violation involving complicity.
Khan, a middle- and long-distance coach at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune, has been charged under Article 2.9 of the NADA Rules, which prohibits intentional complicity in an anti-doping rule violation. The specific allegation against him has not been disclosed.
The 28-year-old former national-level distance runner also coached other prominent Indian athletes, including Kartik Kumar and marathon runner Sawan Barwal, during their formative years. NADA has separately provisionally suspended seven track and field athletes, along with three wrestlers and two weightlifters.
WHAT ARE THE CHARGES?
Khan, who won medals at national events before moving into coaching, spotted Gulveer during a cross-country race in Arunachal Pradesh in 2021. Gulveer, who joined the Indian Army in 2018, received guidance from Khan during his early years at the elite level.
Article 2.9 of the NADA Rules covers assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, conspiring, covering up or other forms of intentional complicity or attempted complicity in an anti-doping rule violation.
GULVEER’S RISE
Gulveer has since established multiple national records. At the recent Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, he won silver medals in the 1,500m and 10,000m and a bronze in the 5,000m. He had also claimed bronze in the 10,000m at the 2022 Asian Games.
In 2024, Gulveer moved to Colorado Springs in the United States to train under Scott Simmons and has since spent much of his time training abroad.
Khan also helped identify and develop Kartik Kumar, who won silver in the 10,000m at the 2022 Asian Games. Kartik accepted a three-year ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency in November 2025 after testing positive for several prohibited anabolic agents in out-of-competition tests.
Marathon runner Sawan Barwal also trained under Khan at the ASI during his formative years. Khan was among the coaches who advised Barwal to switch from other distance events to the marathon.
Barwal broke Shivnath Singh’s 48-year-old national marathon record in Rotterdam in April and later improved his own mark while winning silver at the Asian Games in Japan.
MORE ATHLETES PROVISIONALLY SUSPENDED
NADA has also provisionally suspended seven track and field athletes, mostly in cases involving alleged steroid doping. They are hammer thrower Samir Deshmukh, 800m runners Aditya Patial and Shiva Tomar, 400m runner Mehardeep Kaur, 1,500m runner Sakir, javelin thrower Amit Majumdar and shot putter Rahul.
Wrestlers Sushant Ambaji Tambulkar, Avinash and Chirag have also been provisionally suspended, along with two weightlifters, Bhawana and a minor.
Khan’s suspension remains provisional, and the precise nature of the allegation has not been made public. The charge does not, by itself, establish that he personally tested positive for a prohibited substance.
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