New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- Asha Ilango lost a triple jump bronze at the Asian Games to China's Li Yi on countback. It broke her heart but she has quickly left the disappointment behind, winning the National Open Athletics Championships gold medal here with a meet record of 13.89m.

The disappointment may still linger, but Asha can also see some positives. One is that her family has stopped talking about her marriage.

"My parents, everyone in the family and the elders, would always talk about marriage. Whenever I was injured or not performing well, the topic would be that I should get married. I was fed up. I asked them to give me six months and said I would return with a medal from the Asian Games. Though I lost the medal and it was tough, the...