Marathoners’ spat: Soh Rui Yong to file defamation counterclaim against Ashley Liew

SINGAPORE — The legal spat between national marathoners Soh Rui Yong and Ashley Liew has intensified, with Mr Soh announcing on Wednesday (Oct 9) that he is filing a counterclaim against fellow athlete Ashley Liew, alleging defamation.

Both Mr Liew and Mr Soh have now mounted legal claims, each accusing the other man of unfairly calling him a liar.

The pair have been embroiled in a dispute since October last year over a contested act of sportsmanship by Mr Liew during the SEA Games men’s marathon final in 2015.

Mr Soh took to Facebook in October last year to dispute Mr Liew’s account of what happened during the final, in which the latter said he had slowed down to allow other runners in the event to catch up after they missed a U-turn and took the wrong path.

The incident led to Mr Liew winning the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy — a global prize for good sportsmanship.

On June 18, Mr Liew sued Mr Soh for defamation and sought court orders to get Mr Soh to retract comments which implied that Mr Liew was a liar and did not deserve the award and the recognition which he received.

Mr Liew added in a statement at the time that he had “no choice” but to ask the court to vindicate his reputation, saying that Mr Soh’s actions on social media had caused Singaporeans to question his integrity.

But a day later, Mr Soh dug his heels in, saying in a Facebook post on June 19 that he is “happy that this is going to court”.

In the latest development on Wednesday, Mr Soh published a Facebook post stating: “I have instructed my solicitors to file a counterclaim against Mr Ashley Liew for defamation.”

He said the counterclaim would allege that Mr Liew had defamed him in a series of statements in April and June this year by effectively calling him a liar over the disputed act of sportsmanship.

Mr Soh added: “I have always spoken the truth and nothing but the truth, on what I saw that day at the wrong turn of the 2015 SEA Games marathon.”

He said that Mr Liew’s accusations about him are “manifestly untrue” and that he has “no choice” but to file a countersuit against Mr Liew to defend himself.

Mr Liew’s manager from ONEathlete Team told TODAY that they have no comment on Mr Soh’s counterclaim.

TIMELINE

• In October last year, in a Facebook post, Mr Soh disputed Mr Liew’s account of events during the SEA Games men’s marathon final in 2015.

• Mr Liew said then that he had slowed down to almost a crawl to allow his rivals to catch up after they missed a U-turn and took the wrong path. His act of sportsmanship was widely publicised and earned him praise from many Singaporeans and he was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin accolade in 2016. The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) had nominated him for the award.

• Mr Soh, who won the race, later alleged that Mr Liew’s account was “untrue”.

• Mr Soh’s claims were backed up by Filipino runner Rafael Poliquit — one of the 12 runners competing in that race — and two witnesses who had previously coached him.

• SNOC said that following Mr Soh’s claims, its lawyers had interviewed eye witnesses, with four of them providing statutory declarations. This was to ensure that Mr Soh’s allegations were “fully investigated and the truth be determined”, the council said.

• In April this year, SNOC sent a legal letter to Mr Soh, demanding that he publicly retract his allegations and admit that his claims were wrong.

Separately, Mr Soh, who has been left out of Team Singapore for the SEA Games in the Philippines later this year, is embroiled in a legal dispute with track-and-field governing body Singapore Athletics (SA).

Mr Soh has sued both SA and its executive director Syed Abdul Malik Aljunied, alleging defamation over a separate tiff.