Singapore ― Soh Rui Yong, the country’s top marathoner, was ordered to pay former teammate Ashley Liew S$180,000 in damages for defamation.
On Thursday (Sept 23), the District Court told Soh to pay the sum of S$120,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages towards Liew for the defamation suit, which began two years ago in June 2019.
Liew had filed the suit against Soh, who had commented that his acts of sportsmanship were “false.”
It was reported that Liew, then Soh’s teammate, had slowed down during the 2015 SEA Games to let other runners catch up before continuing his run.
Liew was then awarded the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy by the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) for his gesture.
Soh claimed that Liew’s slowing down during the marathon was “simply not true.”
The defamation suit included four other statements made by Soh on two blog posts, two Facebook posts and one Facebook comment.
In court, the former colleagues presented four witnesses each.
Japanese-Cambodian runner Kuniaki Takizaki told the court that Liew was “standing there” when he overtook the runner.
Meanwhile, Soh’s former coach, Steven Quek, said that he did not witness the incident.
District Judge Lee Li Choon said that Liew’s evidence was more “objective and consistent” compared to Soh’s.
The defamatory statements were also found to be a clear attack on Liew.
Before the verdict was announced, Soh took to Facebook to reiterate his unchanging stance on the dispute.
“To this day, I stand by what I said – because it is what I witnessed that day, and I would never testify to anything else. I have absolutely no reason to lie,” wrote Soh.
“Ashley Liew’s reported act of ‘slowing to a crawl’ to wait for his competitors who missed the U-turn did not happen,” he added.
“My account was publicly backed by a number of witnesses in the media, including Filipino marathoner Rafael Poliquit Jr who was in the same race.”
After the verdict was given, Soh took to his blog to note that he and his legal team found several mistakes in the judgement.
Soh highlighted that Liew changed his story from what he said on live television and in court and that there was an error regarding the time it took for the pack to catch up to Liew.
His team plans to appeal against the verdict, said Soh in the post, which has since been taken down.
He also posted on Facebook on Thursday that there were “a lot of falsehoods being paraded on social media by people who don’t know the head from tail about the case.”
Soh mentioned “attacks on his integrity, character and credibility.”
He added that his family, friends and loved ones were also “attacked.”
“This marathon is not over. I will be launching an appeal in the High Court of Singapore. Will clear my name, whatever it takes. You don’t win a marathon in the first 32.2km. You win it in the last 10km,” wrote Soh.
Meanwhile, Liew expressed gratitude at the verdict.
“My family is so grateful for the vindication received through today’s verdict. It has been a long and arduous road since October 2018. We thank God for His continued mercy and grace on us all,” he said in a Straits Times report.
“Moving forward, it is my prayer that we can all heal, for the betterment of sport in Singapore, especially for the values that athletics stand for.” /TISG
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