IT WILL be an initiation of sorts for China's swimming contingent when they plunge into the Singapore Sports School pool, starting today.

For the 11 Chinese teenagers, the Asian Youth Games are their first taste of a major overseas competition. Still, they are set to dominate the sport over the next five days, based on their times.

And with 32 golds at stake - the highest across the Games' nine sports - performances in the pool could prove decisive in determining who top the inaugural AYG's medal standings.

Japan, who were second behind China's swimmers at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, have no entries in swimming.

In their absence, South Korea are expected to pose the stiffest challenge to the Chinese. They boast two Beijing Olympians in Jung Ha Eun (50 metres and 100m breaststroke) and Kang Yeong Seo (100m and 200m backstroke). Both 15-year-old girls are top-ranked in their respective events.

But it is one of China's unknowns - 16-year-old Liu Lan - who could be one of the AYG's most bemedalled athletes. Her seed times - usually the athlete's best clocked this year - top the field for the 50m butterfly (26.90sec), 100m fly (1min flat) and 200m fly (2:09.00).

Lang Yuanpeng (2:04.00 in the boys' 200m individual medley) is another potential gold medallist.

Despite their tag as favourites, the Chinese are refusing to divulge much. To avoid prying eyes, they trained in a warm-up pool at the Singapore Sports School on Tuesday, away from five other teams who used the competition pool.

When asked about her squad, team leader Zhang Mei said: 'Check the team lists, all the information you want is there.'

When pressed, she said: 'For some of them, the focus is to prepare for the World Championships in Rome later this month.'

One experienced swimmer tipped to shine is Stephanie Au, Hong Kong's youngest representative at last year's Beijing Olympics. She will compete in the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle. She holds the fastest time in the 400m (4:14.82).

The 17-year-old may pose the biggest threat to local hope Quah Ting Wen. The Raffles Institution (Junior College) student's personal bests of 25.65sec (50m), 55.65sec (100m) and 2:00.14 (200m) for the freestyle would have placed her second, third and second respectively at the 2006 Asiad.

Singapore's other medal prospects are Rainer Ng (50m, 100m, 200m back) and Lynette Lim (200m, 400m free).

In the boys' competition, apart from China and South Korea, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong are also in the running for podium finishes.

But until they take the plunge, no one really knows their true potential.

Singapore's AYG head coach David Lim said: 'Like the China team, many of the athletes are unknowns and there's little data available.

'For now, we can only speculate.'