Three former coaches to be charged over falsified finswimming results for 2023 SEA Games selection process
Six athletes were selected for the 2023 SEA Games finswimming events based on the falsified results.
Finswimmers at the 2023 SEA Games. (File photo: Facebook/SNOC)
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SINGAPORE: Three men will be charged in court on Thursday (Mar 12) over falsified finswimming race timings that were submitted for the 2023 Southeast Asian Games selection process.
The police said they were alerted to the case by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), which lodged a report about the suspected falsified race timing results by the Singapore Underwater Federation (SUF).
This resulted in six SUF athletes being selected by the SNOC for the 2023 SEA Games finswimming events held in Cambodia.
“Investigations revealed that in January 2023, the three men, who were SUF coaches, had allegedly falsified the race results of SUF athletes from an overseas finswimming event,” the police said in a media release.
“The three men had conspired to submit a document containing these falsified results to the SNOC as an appeal submission, resulting in six SUF athletes being selected to participate in the Games. These six athletes would not have been selected had it not been for the falsified results.”
The men - aged 33, 35 and 56 - will be charged for their suspected involvement in abetment by conspiracy to commit forgery for the purpose of cheating.
The offence carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.
A committee of inquiry was convened by SNOC and Sport Singapore in July 2024 to investigate allegations that SUF had falsified results for the women's 4x200m surface relay finswimming event.
Investigations, which ended in February 2025, concluded that the results submitted were indeed falsified. It also identified "areas of poor governance" and a failure within SUF to report wrongdoings of those involved.
SNOC and SportSG then released a statement on the matter in March 2025, adding that a police report had been lodged.
Finswimming is split into several categories, with swimmers using monofins - the ones resembling fish tails - and others wearing bifins or stereofins - those typically used by scuba divers.
According to an archive of the 2023 SEA Games website and a copy of the finish sheet uploaded online by Sportalsub.net, a team comprising Bernice Ting, Jamie Ang, Vanessa Ong and Jovita Ho represented Singapore in the 4x200m surface relay at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.
They finished last in the four-team final, about 50 seconds behind winners Vietnam.
Jovita told CNA in March 2025 that as an athlete, she was focused on training and not on what she saw as "miscommunication" within SUF.
“The four girls who are mentioned are the victims,” she said. “We did represent the country, and we did do our part.”
