Marathoner Soh Rui Yong apologises to SNOC again, hopes to race for Singapore in future
Soh at the Pocari Sweat 2.4km Challenge 2022. (Photo: Facebook/Soh Rui Yong (苏睿勇))
SINGAPORE: National marathoner Soh Rui Yong on Thursday (Oct 6) issued his second apology to the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) in less than a year over his past statements and disagreements with the council.
In the letter posted on Soh's Facebook page, he wrote that he wishes to "put the past behind" after "a few years of disagreements with SNOC since April 2019" so that he can focus on his running and contribute "in any way" he can to Singapore sports.
"With this in mind I hereby unreservedly apologise to the SNOC for any past statements I may have made that had cast doubt on their propriety," wrote Soh.
Soh then gave an example of a blog post he wrote in August, in which he asked if the SNOC were "clowns".
"In hindsight, the use of the word 'clowns' was unnecessary. I am sorry," he said. "The blog post has been taken down and I undertake not to use the term 'clowns' on SNOC again."
He added that he has taken down all his posts from April 2019 "that may be seen as disparaging to SNOC" and wrote to third-party publishers to request they do the same.
"Singapore Athletics nominated me to represent Singapore at the SEA Games in 2019 and 2022, but these nominations were rejected by SNOC. I accept that SNOC had their reasons for doing so," said Soh. He then apologised for his statements on that matter and said that he "will not do so in the future".
He also said that he hopes to put on national colours again.
"I hope to race for Singapore again if selected and fly the Singapore flag high," he wrote.
"Team Singapore is at our strongest when united ... Let's put our past differences aside and be united once more."
PREVIOUS INCIDENTS
Soh first apologised to the SNOC in February this year after he was excluded from the Singapore team for the 2021 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi for his conduct and behaviour.
He was also not selected for the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, despite meeting the qualification times for both competitions.
SNOC then left him out of the the 2022 Asian Games, despite his nomination by Singapore Athletics for the men's 10,000m event.
Soh was involved in a high-profile dispute with teammate Ashley Liew after the 2015 SEA Games marathon event over the latter's account of events relating to his act of sportsmanship.
This led to a defamation suit by Liew against Soh, which Soh lost and had to pay Liew damages of S$180,000. Soh then appealed and lost that case as well.
