Marathoner Soh Rui Yong misses out on Asian Games as Singapore set to send its largest contingent

SINGAPORE: Singapore is set to send its largest contingent of 382 athletes to the upcoming 19th Asian Games, but without controversial marathoner Soh Rui Yong. 

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) said in a statement that it had "yet to find any satisfactory evidence to demonstrate changed behaviour and conduct by Soh Rui Yong (post-the SEA Games 2022 selection meeting) which would enable him to meet the non-performance related standards required."

"In the case of the nomination put forward by Singapore Athletics (SA) for Soh Rui Yong’s participation at the Asian Games, the selection committee has decided to reject SA’s nomination," an SNOC spokesperson said. 

"Selection of athletes representing Singapore at the major Games is a responsibility of the SNOC as stipulated in the Olympic Charter. Nominations put forward by the National Sports Associations (NSA) must comply with the Olympic Charter," it added.

According to SNOC, Singapore Athletics had nominated Soh for the men's 10,000m event. 

Soh was also left out of the 2019 and this year's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, despite winning gold medals in the marathon event at the 2015 and 2017 editions.

Explaining its decision to omit him from the upcoming SEA Games in Hanoi, SNOC said in February that Soh was excluded because his conduct and behaviour have "continued to fall short" of the standards it expects of and holds its athletes to.

At the time, SNOC did not mention specific incidents involving Soh, who has been embroiled in several controversies during his career. 

Perhaps the most prominent incident occurred after the 2015 SEA Games marathon event, when Soh was involved in a high-profile dispute with teammate Ashley Liew over the latter's account of events relating