Joseph Schooling apologises if remarks offended anyone

Singaporean Olympic champion Joseph Schooling has apologised over some remark he had made ahead of his Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) campaign.

The 22 year old was alleged to have made remarks "about teaching Malaysians a thing or two" on his return to Singapore recently from the World Championships in Budapest, which triggered a negative response from netizens in both Malaysia and Singapore.

"Those words have definitely been taken out of context and I am here to swim and if I ever offended anyone, I apologise for that, it wasn't really my intention.

"But what is important now is everyone is here safe and we are ready to swim and to do my best for Singapore," he told a press conference upon his arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here, tonight.

Schooling upset American swimming legend Michael Phelps in the men's 100m butterfly at the Rio Olympics last year.

Meanwhile, when asked on Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's comments recently urging Malaysians not to be over sensitive about the issue, Schooling said Khairy has shown how a true sportsmanship he is by saying that.

"Minister Khairy was awesome to say that , we didn't ask him to say it but it shows how a true sportsmanship the guy is to his Singapore counterpart," he said.

The Games' swimming events are scheduled from Aug 21 to 26 at the National Aquatic Centre in KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil.

The 29th edition of the Games officially opens tomorrow with 404 sporting events across 38 sports.

-- BERNAMA