By DARYLL NANAYAKARA

SINGAPORE clinched its first Asian Youth Games (AYG) medals as long jumper Melissa Wu and pole vaulter Sean Lim gave the Republic two bronzes at Bishan Stadium yesterday.

Melissa, 16, clinched the first bronze when she leapt 4.94m in her fifth attempt, and finished behind Qatar's Thomas Reyma (5.06m) and winner Pennapa Tantragool of Thailand (5.58m).

She revealed that she had taken a gamble by pulling out of the high-jump event which was held concurrently.

She said: "Both my coach and I felt that there was a higher chance to bag a medal in the long jump."

And the move paid off. Even though her best jump was still 0.06m short of her personal best, it was enough to earn her a podium finish amid rapturous cheers from the home crowd.

"It's a big deal to me to win Singapore's first medal," she said. "It's great that my family, friends and classmates were among the crowd to cheer me on."

Pole vaulter Sean then bagged the second bronze with a vault of 4.30m.

Despite matching Taiwan's silver medallist Chi Chien-hao's result, the 16-year-old lost on countback as Chi had cleared the height on his first attempt.

Sean cleared on his second. Still, he said: "A win is still a win. To get a medal for Singapore is the biggest honour ever."

darylldj@sph.com.sg

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