| By Jeanette Wang | ||
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Pole vaulter Sean Lim (left) and long jumper Melissa Wu rejoice after winning bronze medals on the first day of the athletics competition at the Bishan Stadium yesterday. -- ST PHOTO: ALBERT SIM |
STAY or go? In the thick of competition yesterday, high jumper Melissa Wu had to make a quick decision.
In the end, she abandoned her pet event to compete in the long jump.
It was a gamble which paid off, as the 16-year-old helped deliver one of Singapore's two medals at the Asian Youth Games.
The Cedar Girls' School student leapt 4.94m to bag a bronze at the Bishan Stadium in front of 2,100 spectators, moments after teammate Sean Lim claimed his in the boys' pole vault with a 4.30m effort.
'It was a tough decision to make, but I decided to give up the high jump because the competition was just too high,' said the soft-spoken Melissa.
Her personal best of 1.58m would have seen her finish seventh in yesterday's high jump - which began at 4.10pm, an hour before the long jump competition.
After clearing 1.55m in the high jump, she crossed over to the pit to join the three other long jump competitors.
Thailand's Pennapa Tantragool, 16, won the gold (5.58m), while Qatar's Reyma Alen Thomas, 15, was second (5.06m).
Melissa's 4.94m effort was short of her personal best of 4.99m - though it would not have made a difference to her final standing.
If Sean, 16, had achieved his personal best and national junior record of 4.61m, he would have been second.
Chinese Taipei's Chi Chien-hao matched the Singaporean's 4.30m vault, but claimed the silver as he did it in one attempt, while Sean took two.
Japan's Sho Hibasa strolled to the gold with an impressive 4.81m.
'I'm disappointed because I didn't do my best,' said Hwa Chong Institution student Sean, 'but a medal is still a medal.'
The former guitar ensemble member, who picked up pole vaulting in Secondary 1 despite having no athletics background, attributed his below-par performance to a lack of focus and experience.
Still, he felt joy and honour in being Singapore's first medallist of the Games.
'I hope I've shown the other Singaporeans that it's possible to win a medal at an international meet,' said Sean, who will compete at next week's World Youth Championships in Italy. 'Everyone has a fair chance to win. We shouldn't have an inferiority complex.'
Teammate Shahrir Anuar would agree.
The 16-year-old sprinter yesterday won the third and last heat of the boys' 100m in 11.07 seconds to be the second-fastest qualifier for Friday's final behind Japan's Masaki Nashimoto (10.89).
A nervous start was quickly erased within 40m, as the Singapore Sports School student took the lead and closed strongly to eclipse his previous personal best of 11.17sec set in March.
'There weren't many people to push me in the race, so I think there's room for me to go faster,' said Shahrir, who is aiming for a medal in the eight-man final.
Also earning a final place in a personal-best time was Jared Lim, 16, who finished third (50.39sec) in the second of three heats in the boys' 400m. He bettered his previous best of 51.11sec.
Other Singapore athletes did not advance to the finals yesterday, despite valiant performances.
In the boys' 1,500m final, Zachary Ryan Deveraj finished sixth (4min 24.28sec), while Ranjitha Raja (5:32.72) was ninth among the girls.
Sprinter Liang Wei was ninth overall (12.91sec) in the girls' 100m heats. Clara Poon, returning to competition after a month-long injury lay-off, was 10th overall (1:03.80) in the girls' 400m heats.
Though Clara's Games has come to an end - she will miss today's 800m because she is not fully fit - she leaves without regret.
She said: 'It's an inspiration for me to do better in my future competitions.'
