SINGAPORE - Top national distance runner Soh Rui Yong has withdrawn from the 1,500m event at the May 12-23 SEA Games in Hanoi.

In a post on social media on Sunday (Jan 2), he announced that he had written to Singapore Athletics president Lien Choong Luen to inform him of the decision, which he said was accepted.

Soh, who has also qualified for the 10,000m and marathon in Vietnam, noted that his withdrawal would allow other Singaporean runners a chance to compete in the event.

His qualifying time of 4min 5.19sec  at last March’s Singapore Athletics All Comers 2 is faster than the  gold medal winning time of 4:06:63 clocked by Vietnam’s Duong Van Thai at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.

Each nation is allowed two representatives in each athletics event at the SEA Games, and in addition to Soh, Jeevaneesh Soundarajah and Ethan Yan have also met the qualifying mark of 4min 8.9secs.

In his e-mail to Lien, Soh stated: "Qualifying for the 1,500m was always a huge goal of mine but now that three Singaporeans have met the qualifying mark, the best thing for the Singapore team would be for me to withdraw and focus on the longer events so Jeeva and Ethan can be nominated.

"Ethan is just 20 years old this year and managed his 4:07 while juggling national service. The exposure will be great for him as he works towards greater heights in the future."

Soh is the only Singaporean marathoner to win back-to-back SEA Games golds with victories in Singapore in 2015 and Kuala Lumpur in 2017, but was controversially left out of the 2019 edition by selectors at the Singapore National Olympic Council.

He will race in the Pocari Sweat 2.4km Challenge on Jan 8 and has also qualified for the 10,000m and marathon events at the Asian Games, which will take place in Hangzhou, China from September 10-25.

If selected, Soh, 30, will be the first Singaporean to run the marathon at the Asiad.