Stories of surprises, success against odds

The lead-up to any big event is all about the predictions. How many medals can your country get? Who will win those medals? In which sports will those medals come? But the actual Games are all about those predictions getting turned inside out

- Ashish Magotra

Few things in sport bring greater joy than the unexpected. You sit there expecting the favourites to do their thing but then comes along someone else, inspired by the moment, the setting or perhaps the stars themselves. They shrug off the pressure to produce a performance for the ages... one that sets the tongues wagging and has us sitting on the edge of our seats.

Every athlete who goes to the Asian Games has something to prove. To some it isn't about the medals -- the goals are more modest. A personal best, a national record, a place in the final or the semi-final, a game against the best in the world. Not everyone shouts from the rooftops but it is serious business.

The toughest thing for an athlete is to build momentum; momentum built on steady success. You can have the odd unquestionable, unexplainable genius. But sustained success in a sport takes work. A lot.

But still, for everything there has to be a starting point. And for Sift Samra, Palak Gulia, Kishore Jena, the table tennis doubles team of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, Parul Chaudhary and a few others, that starting point is the Asian Games.

Samra, a medical student, gave herself a year to succeed in shooting. Her gold medal in the 50m rifle three positions was the first individual title won by an Indian rifle shooter in the Asian Games and it came in an event that has traditionally been weaker for the women.