Philippines basketball player refuses to shake S'pore players' hands following SEA Games defeat

A Philippines' national basketball player has drawn flak from netizens after he was caught on camera refusing to shake the hands of Singapore's players following their defeat at the SEA Games.

Singapore's men's 3x3 basketball team trumped the Philippines 21-20 on Dec.11, sending them to the finals where they eventually lost to Thailand, but still secured a historic silver medal.

A screen recording of the end of the semi-finals match, posted by a netizen online, showed the final score by Singapore's team that led to their victory.

Thereafter, Singapore's players approached a Philippines player sitting on the bench at the side of the court before taking turns to shake his hand, as per standard post-game courtesy.

The Philippines player, however, appeared to avoid each handshake and eye contact with the Singapore players despite their repeated attempts to engage him.

The clip went viral on TikTok, with what appears to be mostly Singaporean netizens flooding the comment section with criticisms of the Philippines player's lack of sportsmanship.

"Very poor sportsmanship, very bad attitude," one said, while another added, "they were defeated both in score and sportsmanship."

One commenter attacked the other commenters instead, saying: "Comment section’s funny, acting like SG’s the most humble country after finally winning a basketball match against The Philippines."

Another urged, "Come on, let's shake hands and show some class, [Philippines]! Sports is all about respect and I think we can all agree on that. Let's give Singapore's team a thumbs up."

Top images via user363828273/TikTok