All her life, Amita Berthier, 15, has been told to love her sister. Born just one year apart, the siblings do many things together, such as collecting postcards.

Their bond is such that Amita finds it hard to treat her sister as an unrelated opponent when it comes to fencing.

In fact, she has never beaten her sister, Aarya, 16, in any Inter School Fencing nationals before but all that changed today.

Amita, a Singapore Sports School student competing in the B division individual foil, beat her sibling from Raffles Girls' School in the semi-final with a score of 15-10.

Amita went on to clinch the title with a triumph over team-mate Tatiana Wong.

When asked for her secret, Amita said: "I went for half a year of sports psychology, where they taught me to view my sister as any other opponent during the match and only become sisters again after it."

Her win also helped SSP achieve a clean sweep of overall school champions in both the B and C divisions - a first for the school.

Overall school champions:

B division girls:

1st: SSP

2nd: Raffles Girls' School (RGS)

3rd: Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School (PRCS)

B division boys:

1st: SSP

2nd: Hwa Chong Institution (HCI)

3rd: Raffles Institution (RI)

C division girls:

1st: SSP

2nd: PRCS and St Margaret's Secondary School

C division boys:

1st: SSP

2nd: HCI

3rd: PRCS