The legal dispute between national pole vaulter Rachel Yang and Singapore Athletics' (SA) sports development and performance manager Ong Wan Xin looks set to drag on.

Yang, 35, was issued a lawyer's letter on Sept 15 requesting that she retract her comments about Ong allegedly sent via e-mail and posted on social media.

Ong, 36, claimed that Yang's statements harmed her character and reputation, and cast doubts on her professionalism as SA manager.

Yang was granted an extension from Wednesday Sept 20 to Friday Sept 29 to respond but, as of last night, the multiple SEA Games medallist had not taken down the Facebook posts in question.

She had written a Facebook post in July criticising an SA secretariat staff member for "exhibiting negligence". She did not name the official but referred to the person as the "Sports and Development Manager".

A month earlier, Yang had been stranded at Hong Kong International Airport after she and her coach David Yeo - who is also her husband - could not board their flight back to Singapore as no prior arrangements had been made for her equipment to be checked in.

Yang, who won a bronze medal at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August, declined to comment.

It is understood that she instructed her lawyers to respond yesterday to the letter from Ong's lawyers.

When asked about her next course of action, Ong, who is represented by Edmond Pereira Law Corporation, said she would seek advice from her lawyers.

A lawyer from the firm said: "It's up to the client to decide how to proceed, whether it will be resolved before a trial or to let the law takes its course.

"Good sense must prevail."

The athletics fraternity has been plagued by recent controversies. In April, an extraordinary general meeting was called off at the last minute. Last month, several senior athletes raised concerns about SA technical director Volker Herrmann's management style.