A swimming controversy took the centre stage at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, after Singapore and Malaysia were disqualified from the men's 4×100m freestyle relay final.

Joseph Schooling, Quah Zheng Wen, Jonathan Tan and Mikkel Lee looked to have successfully defended Singapore's gold medal in the event with a time of 3:17:19 at the My Dinh Water Sports Stadium.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's quartet of Welson Sim, Lim Yin Chuen, Khiew Hoe Yean and Bryan Leong had finished second with a time of 3:20.13.

However, according to unconfirmed reports, some of the swimmers allegedly jumped too early, which led to their disqualification.

Due to that, host nation Vietnam (3:21.81) moved up from bronze to gold and joined by Indonesia (3:24.09) and Thailand (3:24.28) on the podium.