Open Challenge to Ashley Liew - Donate your $180,000 in damages to Singapore Sports
A total of ~$320,000 has been paid to Ashley Liew for his “loss of reputation”, “hurt, distress and embarrassment”, and legal fees. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has believed in me, supported my case and contributed to the crowdfunding for this sum of money.
The central issue surrounding Ashley Liew’s legal case was the recognition he received for his “act of fair play” at the 2015 SEA Games Marathon. He was recognised for his sportsmanship after purportedly slowing down to wait for his competitors after we missed a U-Turn at the ~6.5km mark of the race. By witness accounts presented at the trial, he was either in last place or close to last place before the missed U-Turn, and gained a 50 metre advantage after the mishap.
What happened next was the central matter of dispute.
In 2015, Ashley Liew claimed on live TV on Channel 5 that:
He “slowed down for (his competitors)” and continued his race only once his competitors (plural) overtook him in the “same order that was before” the missed U-Turn Point:
In 2020, Ashley Liew stated in court documents that:
“The chase pack took about 1 minute to catch up with me after Mr Takizaki overtook me. To be clear, I did not wait for the other Participants in the chase pack to overtake me before resuming my usual marathon pace. Instead, I increased my pace once some of them drew level and were running alongside me.”
“The chase pack took about 1 minute to catch up with me after Mr Takizaki overtook me. To be clear, I did not wait for the other Participants in the chase pack to overtake me before resuming my usual marathon pace. Instead, I increased my pace once some of them drew level and were running alongside me.”
The following video is taken about 2km after the missed U-Turn (about 7 minutes after the missed U-Turn), at the next U-Turn point at East Coast Park. Ashley Liew, wearing white, is pictured in second position at 20 seconds into the video. I, also wearing white, am in 6th place, yet to overtake him since the missed U-Turn point.
Moreover, whether Ashley Liew had slowed down to wait or not, it was wrong for anyone to say he had “sacrificed his chance at a medal” - he eventually finished 6min and 52sec behind the bronze medalist, in 8th place:
In 2019, Ashley Liew sued me for defamation. More then 2 years elapsed between the start of legal proceedings and the eventual judgement in 2021, where District Court Judge Lee Li Choon chose to believe Ashley’s account ahead of mine on the reasoning that she felt his witnesses to be “more objective and consistent”. She then granted his claim for damages of $180,000. We filed our contestations with regards to Judge Lee’s findings at in our appeal document, which is readily available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l3h7IxuUfwUs2oVEQAUVXj8l_KDF0yO1/view?usp=sharing
My Open Challenge to Ashley Liew: Use Your $180,000 for the benefit of Singapore Sports
With the full sum of ~$320,000 ($180,000 damages + $140,000 legal costs) now paid to Ashley (with help from the public who have supported my account of this case), I now issue this open challenge to Ashley - prove how much sportsmanship you really have. A lot of the money I have transferred to you are donations from the public. Give back to Singapore, and Singapore sports. 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.
Whatever you choose to do, I wish you all the best for the future.
