Soh Rui Yong & S'pore men's U-22 football team added to 2025 SEA Games list after appeal

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) Appeal Committee met on Aug. 28 and approved 218 additional athletes for selection to the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

These include marathon runner Soh Rui Yong and the national men's U-22 football team, who were previously left off the long list.

According to SNOC, they will join the 762 athletes previously selected, bringing Singapore's total contingent to 980 athletes across 48 sports.

This will be the largest contingent Singapore has ever sent to the SEA Games.

In response to CNA, SNOC said that the committee is satisfied with Singapore Athletics' assurance that Soh will uphold his responsibilities in representing the nation at the Games."

"We extend our best wishes to all athletes in their preparations for the Games."

However, Soh's participation still depends on Singapore Athletics, which will have to select two out of five athletes, including athletes' names in the first provisional list.

Speaking to CNA, Soh wanted to extend "huge thanks" to the president of Singapore Athletics and its deputy general manager for their assistance in handling the "heavy lifting" and making a "good case" in support of the appeal.

He said competing in the 2025 Games would also be "quite a cool full circle journey," as he made his Games debut 10 years ago and won the marathon.

His wife is also from Bangkok, so it would be "pretty cool to compete in front of my wife's side of the family," he added.

The Games will be held in Thailand from Dec. 9 to 20, 2025.

Left out

SNOC previously stated that it did not support Soh's nomination when the long list was first released in early August 2025.

Soh has represented Singapore at the 2015 and 2017 SEA Games, but he was not selected in 2019 and 2021 due to his conduct not meeting the expectations of Team Singapore athletes by SNOC.

When it came to the 2023 SEA Games, Soh was able to successfully appeal for his inclusion after apologising to the SNOC for how he had handled their previous disputes, as well as providing formal undertakings from Soh and the Singapore Athletics.

Those included a commitment to maintain a respectful and positive public profile and conduct himself in a manner befitting a national athlete.

However, after the 2023 SEA Games, an SNOC representative stated that Soh had made "disparaging and derisive remarks", leading to his snub at the 2023 Asia Games, as he had failed to uphold the commitments he made to SNOC.

"The SNOC reaffirms its commitment to sending athletes who not only meet the performance benchmarks but also uphold the values and behaviours expected of Singapore's national representatives.

Representing the nation is both a privilege and a responsibility that demands sporting excellence and exemplary character."

As for the Young Lions, it was previously reported that they missed the cut as they had not produced any international results that met SNOC's criteria of placing third in the 2023 SEA Games.

During the 2023 SEA Games, the Young Lions ended their 32nd SEA Games campaign with three losses and a draw.

In their last match against Malaysia, Singapore suffered a 7-0 defeat.

It would have been the first time since 1969 that Singapore had not competed in football at the SEA Games if the team had not been selected.

Since then, the Young Lions have faced their Philippine counterparts in an away game on Aug. 8 before taking on the Malaysian Under-22 side in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 13, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) told Mothership earlier in the month.

"These matches serve as important benchmarking for the team's SEA Games preparations."

With 51 athletes on the long list for men's football, FAS will have to select 23 of them to send to the Games.

SNOC will confirm the final list and announce it closer to the Games.

Top photos via Soh Rui Yong/Facebook & Young Lions/Facebook