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Sports • Performance should be main yardstick for event selection
The Straits Times
|August 26, 2025
The recent exclusion of Soh Rui Yong from the SEA Games squad raises questions about meritocracy and the future of Singapore sports (Young Lions and distance runner Soh Rui Yong left out of SEA Games contingent, Aug 6).
If meritocracy is the cornerstone of our sporting landscape, then performance should be the primary yardstick for selection. Soh has consistently delivered results at the highest level despite numerous challenges, and yet he remains sidelined.
This sends the wrong signal to aspiring athletes that talent and hard work alone may not be enough unless they conform to a certain standard of behaviour.
This story is from the August 26, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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