SINGAPORE — SportSG CEO Lim Teck Yin wants National Sports Associations (NSA) to learn some valuable lessons from the confusion and unhappiness generated by Singapore Athletics (SA) over its decision to tweak the selection criteria for the Rio Olympics male athlete wildcard.

The initial selection criteria, set more than six months ago, took into account national record breakers and results at last year’s South-east Asian Games.

Based on those conditions, the three frontrunners for the wildcard were racewalker Edmund Sim, hurdler Ang Chen Xiang and marathoner Soh Rui Yong.

However, The Straits Times reported last week that the SA’s newly elected management committee has tweaked the original criteria to include the International Association of Athletic Federations’ (IAAF) points system, and other factors, such as how close the athlete is to his event’s Olympics qualifying mark.

Sprinter Calvin Kang is now believed to be the top-ranked athlete, with another sprinter Timothee Yap and hurdler Ang also in line.

Both criteria have caused unhappiness in the athletics community. The situation has prompted an athlete to voice his grievances to SportSG and also resulted in an exchange of words between Soh and fellow marathoner Mok Ying Ren.

Two weeks ago, Soh called the selection process a “mess” and lambasted the criteria used as “senseless and not holistic”.

Taking issue with Soh’s criticisms, Mok wrote on his website that Soh should have raised his concerns earlier if he had been unhappy.

He was also critical of Soh for seemingly playing down his fellow contenders’ achievements by saying that “breaking a national record by one or two minutes doesn’t mean you are good enough to compete on the world stage”. That, in turn, prompted Soh to hit back at Mok on his social media platforms.

The SA are due to submit the name of the chosen athlete to the Singapore National Olympic Council for endorsement today.

Yesterday, Lim said the selection criteria saga is “an unfortunate situation that has caused room for a lot of controversy”.

He told TODAY at the launch of ActiveSG’s Tennis Academy: “Obviously, the people who were slated (for selection) under the previous criteria will feel that it is not fair. But the athletes who did not quite accept the criteria in the first place also think it is not fair.

“So the SA is in a difficult position of having to satisfy the ideal that people accept. I think it is useful for them to reflect on this learning lesson and don’t repeat the episode.

“Associations can learn from this episode to (always) put your best (brains behind selection) criteria, gleam it through (so that) you are clear what are the sort of results and outcomes that you will get. It is (also) useful to get the athletes’ views early before you set your policies.”

Lim also weighed in on the exchange between Mok and Soh, and said all Team Singapore athletes should always display “mutual respect” for one another, and act with a “sense of professional decorum”.

“It is something every Team Singapore athlete should embrace, and I would ask the athletes to take a step back, and reflect on what they have been reading, and whether or not they should be saying more,” said Lim, who added that he had been asked by several people whether a code of conduct should be set on athletes’ use of social media.

“There are many people who are watching, and feel that it should not be,” he said. “This is really something for our athletes to sit down, and think (about).

“There is no right or wrong at the end of the day. It is whether you are able to win support and respect from the people who are watching — including your fellow athletes.”