Marathoner Soh Rui Yong challenges Ashley Liew to donate $180,000 defamation payout to 'prove sportsmanship'

After losing that high-profile defamation lawsuit, one would have thought that the complicated saga between national marathoner Soh Rui Yong and his former teammate Ashley Liew was done and dusted. 

However, in a Facebook post shared on Tuesday (April 5), Soh issued an "open challenge" to Liew urging him to "prove [his] sportsmanship" by donating the $180,000 in damages he received to Singapore sports.

Describing how "a lot of the money" were donations from the public, Soh, who is in London pursuing a law degree, wrote: "Use the entire $180,000 in damages for your 'loss of reputation' and 'hurt, distress and embarrassment' to set up a fund or a scholarship that benefits the athletes of Singapore.

"Doing a good deed like this will provide everyone with a nice closure to move on from this unfortunate episode."

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/sohruiyong/posts/539686844180311[/embed]

In the comments, a netizen wrote he was "perplexed" that Soh would put the spotlight back on the dispute after previously remarking that he would "move forward from here". 

Soh, 30, clarified that he had not "closed the chapter" due to "unanswered questions" from the court case. 

The pair were embroiled in a long-running row over a SEA Games marathon event in 2015.

In September last year, a District Court judge had ordered Soh to pay Liew $120,000 in general damages and $60,000 in aggravated damages, after he disputed the latter's account of fair play. 

Soh then announced that he would be turning to crowdfunding to help raise funds.

"I'll be honest and say that I don’t have the money on hand. I need your help," he said in blog post at that time. 

His subsequent appeal against the district court's decision was dismissed by a High Court judge on March 28.

Soh had said then that he respected the Court's decision "and will move forward from here". 

ALSO READ: Marathoner Soh Rui Yong apologises to SNOC, says he's 'not begging' for place on SEA Games team

chingshijie@asiaone.com

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.