SEA Games 2025: Singapore hurdlers’ national records annulled after technical glitch

BANGKOK – The national records set on Dec 12 by Singapore hurdlers Ang Chen Xiang and Kerstin Ong will not count, after technical issues were reported at the Supachalasai National Stadium.

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) said in a statement said it was informed by Asian Athletics – the Asian governing body for the sport – that technical issues with the timing system affected the statistical integrity of results from the Dec 12 evening session.

“While the athletes’ placings remain valid, their recorded timings cannot be recognised for statistical purposes,” said the SNOC’s spokesperson.

“This is unfortunate, and we have lodged the matter with the South-east Asian Games Federation to ensure that standards at the Games are upheld.”

On Dec 12, national hurdler Ang failed to retain his 110m hurdles gold, finishing second in a national record 13.75sec.

There was also a national mark for Games debutante Ong, whose 13.47sec in heat 2 of the 100m hurdles saw her better her previous mark of 13.86sec set in August.

In the final, Ong finished seventh out of eight athletes in 13.85sec.

Ong, 28, told The Straits Times that she was disappointed by the development, though she added that she had figured out that “the time is definitely off”.

But she is hoping that her final time of 13.85sec will be allowed to stand, and the hurdler has since lodged an appeal using video evidence.

She said: “I was more affected by the non-recognition of 13.85sec because we knew we ran it. But if the decision stands then I just have to run an even faster time next.”

Lamenting the circumstances, she added: “We are competing in the highest SEA level where we want to push our best and to record our best performances, and to have all our results not recognised... just makes it feel like we ran and prepared for all of this for (nothing).”

In a letter to team managers seen by The Straits Times, Asian Athletics said that there were technical issues with the timing system during the Dec 12 evening session and that the “zero-test result was not satisfactory as per World Athletic Rules”.

The organisation added: “The responsible timing company could not fully fix the issue. The right placing of athletes was ensured. But the timing (results) from the official system cannot be accounted for statistic purposes (i.e. records. qualification to the major events, World ranking, etc.)”. 

Asian Athletics added that the Dec 12 morning session, as well as the Dec 11 event and field events were not affected. It has also asked for the local organising committee of the South East Asian Games Federation to “take adequate care that such instances do not occur for the remaining days of the competition”.

The letter also stated that with “many problems cropping up during the competition”, the Asian Athletics had appointed an enquiry committee, which had “a detailed discussion with the technical delegates, the International Photo Finish Judge and the LOC Competition Director”.

“With the due deliberation it was ascertained the major hiccup was due to power supply and inconsistent Internet facilities. But however, the timing and scoring company also did not come up to standard requirement,” added the organisation.

ST understands that a new timing company has been appointed for the Dec 13 events.