IT IS the enduring downside to any friendly rivalry and on Sunday, it was Amanda Lim who had to play second fiddle. The latest chapter of what is growing into Singapore swimming's most keenly-fought duel was won by Quah Ting Wen. She pipped her compatriot to the 50m freestyle gold medal by a quarter of a second.

The 16-year-old bagged her second Asian Youth Games gold with a 25.43sec effort, adding to the one she picked up for the 200m free on Friday in a national record-breaking time.

Yet, it was Singapore Sports School student Amanda, competing in the very pool she has trained in nearly every day for the past four years, who started as the pre-race favourite.

She had bettered Ting Wen's national and Under-17 record of 25.65sec in Saturday's semi-final. Her 25.38 topped the qualifying timesheets, while Ting Wen was second-fastest (25.54).

But on Sunday, the Raffles Institution (Junior College) first-year student's quicker reaction time - 0.64sec to Amanda's 0.67 - gave her the early edge.

The pressure of the big stage revealed who could cope - Amanda's strokes in the first 15m were hurried, while her teammate's smooth movement showed her composure.

Ting Wen began to pull away with 20m to go, but, in the end, was just unable to go under Amanda's record.

'For sprints, it's really anyone's race,' said the 1.74m-tall Ting Wen, who credited Amanda for helping to calm her nerves in the waiting room.

'To be able to talk to each other before the race really helped. We talked about school, the upcoming World Championships, actually about anything except the race.' Amanda chipped in: 'This is the only AYG event we could get a 1-2 in, and we're really happy to achieve it.'

The pair have known each other since the age of 10, competing in inter-school and national age-group meets. But while the 1.69m-tall Amanda has focused on the sprints for several years, it was only last year that her teammate made the switch from the distance events.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.