JOHOR BARU: The Johor government had instructed the organisers of the 113 Triathlon Desaru 2024 event to conduct a thorough review of the event's results after social media users questioned alleged technical discrepancies in the endurance race.
State Youth, Sports, Entrepreneurial Development, Cooperatives, and Human Resources committee chairman Mohd Hairi Mad Shah said this led to the organisers confirming that Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman - who was a participant - had failed to complete the designated U-turn route in the bike race, leading to his disqualification.
His third place podium finish at the event, held at the Sand and Sandal Beach Resort in Desaru between July 6 and 7, was eventually reclassified as DNF (Did Not Finish).
"He (Syed Saddiq) has since made two video explanations, the first defending it (the results) and another on the allegedly flawed U-turn," he said in a statement on Facebook.
Social media users had raised questions over the results after the MP had posted an unusually fast race time.
Syed Saddiq has since apologised and attributed it to a mistake.
In an Instagram post, Syed Saddiq explained that upon receiving detailed data from the technical team and cross-referencing it with his own smart watch data, he realised an error had occurred during the race.
He said after analysing the data, he realised he had accidentally cycled the Olympic Distance 12km loop in the first laps instead of the 30km triathlon loop.
Meanwhile, Hairi said the Johor government welcomes all sports participants and organisers to the state.
"We must ensure that incidents like this do not tarnish the harmony and sportsmanship in our community.
"All sports enthusiasts and community leaders must work together to uphold the integrity and spirit of sports," he said.