STAY or go? In the thick of competition on Tuesday, 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.

Her personal best of 1.58m would have seen her finish seventh in Tuesday'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.'

Please read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times

jwang@sph.com.sg