National swimmer Joseph Schooling earned the ire of netizens for his comments to Channel News Asia when he returned to Singapore this week after participating in the 2017 FINA World Championship in Hungary.
When asked about the upcoming SEA games which is to be held at Malaysia this year, the 22-year-old who won nine gold medals at the 2015 SEA Games, which was held in Singapore, said:
“We have a chance to do something special at the SEA Games; 2015 was something special for us, I think it will be nice to go to Malaysia’s backyard and teach them a thing or two.”
Here’s what Joseph Isaac Schooling thinks of Singapore’s chances in the pool for Kuala Lumpur 2017.
Posted by Channel NewsAsia on Tuesday, 1 August 2017
A majority of netizens responding to the interview were quick to respond to the Olympic gold medallist, calling him “proud” and asking him to be more humble:
However, some netizens have come to Schooling’s defense, saying that his words have been taken out of context or that this is just a normal part of competitive sports banter:
As for Schooling, he has his eyes fixed on the prize at the SEA Games. He wrote on his Facebook page that he’s not taking the games lightly:
Good to be back home. Next up #SEAGames2017. Look forward to compete against my fellow competitors in this region and…
Posted by Joseph Isaac Schooling on Tuesday, 1 August 2017