Amanda Lim, Joseph Schooling and Teong Tzen Wei warned by SportSG over drug use, Latest Team Singapore News - The New Paper
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Amanda Lim, Joseph Schooling and Teong Tzen Wei warned by SportSG over drug use

Sport Singapore (SportSG) will remove support for national swimmers Amanda Lim and Joseph Schooling for one month from Oct 1 following their admission that they had consumed cannabis. 

The duo, who on Aug 30 were revealed to have admitted to the illegal drug use, were also issued with letters of warning by the national sports agency. 

SportSG also revealed on Wednesday that a third national swimmer, Teong Tzen Wei, was also warned "for having acted in breach of their athlete agreements".

It said the trio had been investigated by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for drug-related offences but all their urine tests for controlled drugs came up negative. However, all three had admitted to consuming controlled drugs while they were representing Singapore overseas.

SportSG said it met Schooling, 27, Lim, 29, and Teong, 24, as part of its internal review, which concluded last week.

"SportSG has found that the three athletes had fallen short of the code of conduct expected of all TeamSG athletes as part of their athlete agreement," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"SportSG takes the breaches of the code of conduct seriously. Team Singapore athletes are expected to hold the highest standards of conduct as they represent Singapore on the world stage and are role models for Singaporeans."

It added that it has decided to suspend all support to the trio as carded athletes under the High Performance Scheme, for a period of one month, beginning from 1 October 2022.

This means they will not receive training assistance grants and access to sports science and sports medicine facilities and services in this period.

Teong, who is also a spexScholar, will also have his scholarship benefits withdrawn for one month.

"The actions taken against the athletes underscore their responsibility and accountability as national athletes. In deciding on this course of action, SportSG took into account a range of factors including the findings by CNB," it said.

"SportSG also noted that all three athletes cooperated fully throughout the internal review process, and readily admitted to the consumption. They had expressed remorse for their lapses in judgment, and have appealed to be given a second chance to prove themselves and fulfil their roles and responsibilities as national athletes. All three athletes have resolved not to abuse controlled drugs in the future, and are also committed to making amends by contributing back to the sporting community and play a part in education and other efforts to prevent others from making the same mistake."

DRUG OFFENCESSwimmingjoseph schooling