India, Oct. 12 -- Parveen Hooda's little diary, her confidant through thick and thin of medal-winning highs and suspension-serving lows, was put to use again in Aichi the night before her Asian Games final bout.

"I wrote that the dream has come true. Thank you, God," Parveen gave out an extract. "Now, we have to go out there and get the gold."

Which she did, restoring her scrapped medal while upgrading the colour from Hangzhou three years ago.

Parveen has medals aplenty at the national and international stage, from World Championships to World Cups to Asian Championships. The 2026 Asian Games gold in 65kg division, won after she was stripped of the 2023 bronze medal for a whereabouts failure ban, is the most prized.

"Medals toh pehle ...