Ashley Liew's management company ONEathlete yesterday reiterated its support for the 32-year-old, a day after his fellow marathoner Soh Rui Yong was served a lawyer's letter by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) for his statements on the 2015 SEA Games marathon.

It posted a statement on its website that read: "ONEathlete continues to stand by our earlier response... and will defer to SNOC's processes that are ongoing at the moment.

"We will also examine all legal options available to Ashley in light of current developments."

It is also "grateful to the SNOC for working through the due processes to follow up with and provide greater clarity on this matter".

Soh, the 2015 and 2017 SEA Games champion, had last October disputed Liew's account of events at the 2015 Singapore Games, for which the latter was given a special award for sportsmanship by the SNOC.

Liew was also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy by the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) in 2016.

Liew had reportedly slowed down to give his rivals time to catch up after they took the wrong route, but Soh alleged on social media that this was "untrue" after the CIFP put up a Facebook post last year hailing Liew as a role model for fair play. He also repeated these comments on his blog and Facebook page.

Soh, 27, was asked by the SNOC to "publicly retract and withdraw" these statements.