IN A week where the girls hogged the limelight, a Singapore boy finally shone at the Asian Youth Games (AYG) bowling competition - and took home the most prestigious gold medal of them all.

Basil Low, 16, overcame the glare of television lights and the weight of expectation to deliver the boys' Masters title at Orchid Country Club last night.

And he did it in style, with a sublime display in the step-ladder final that floored his South Korean opponent Choi Kyung Hwan.

Basil's 501-433 win over Kyung Hwan was the perfect pick-me-up for his team, who had been stunned earlier when home favourite New Hui Fen was soundly beaten in the girls' Masters final by another South Korean, Sim Ui Jin.

Hui Fen, who already had gold medals to her name in the singles and doubles events, lost 350-453 in the two-game final and had to make do with a silver.

This, despite grabbing a perfect game earlier in the day, which helped catapult her to the top of the Masters rankings with a total score of 3,524 pinfalls over 16 games.

Said the 17-year-old Hui Fen: 'I could've done better in the final although I didn't have my breaks. The lanes weren't forgiving.'

Her opponent, Ui Jin, had reached the final after beating another Singaporean, Darshini Krishna, 249-199 in the semi-finals.

Ui Jin, 17, admitted she had struggled initially to find her rhythm. 'There were too many Singapore supporters, only 10 per cent were Korean, and so I was a little scared,' she said. 'But I tried to focus my thoughts on the game.'

While Hui Fen blew cold in the final, her teammate Basil was simply red-hot.

After qualifying first for the step-ladder final with a 16-game total of 3,576 pinfalls, the Singapore Sports School student knew he had to perform in a televised game in front of VIPs like Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, and former national kegler Grace Young.

'Before the match, I was nervous because it's my first time bowling in a live TV final,' he said. 'After a while though, it sank in and I just kept focusing on my shots instead of what was around me.'

The mindset worked a treat. After taking a slender 236 to 220 lead over Kyung Han in the first game, the Singaporean opened with a split in the first frame of the second game.

He responded with nine strikes in a row en route to a whopping 265. The South Korean settled for a 213, and the silver medal.

Said Basil, who is now gunning for a place in the Singapore squad for next year's Asian Games: 'I was definitely fired up (after Hui Fen lost the final).

'I'm very proud but I couldn't have done it without the support of my teammates, family and coaches.'

Singapore finished as the top nation in the bowling competition with three gold medals, three silvers, and two bronzes. South Korea also did well, with three golds, two silvers and four bronzes.

The Republic's medal haul had Singapore Bowling Federation president Jessie Phua purring with delight.

'I'm over the moon,' she said. 'Their mental strength and their technique is not much different from bowlers in the senior division. You wouldn't have thought that they were just kids.'