India, Nov. 5 -- The first thing Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru did after returning home from the Asian Games with two medals was take some time off. Not much, just a couple of days. While that may not seem like much, given Ganesh's gruelling practice schedule, 48 hours was enough breathing room.

He wakes up at 6.30 every morning and spends four hours training. After an hour-long break, he is back at the archery range from noon to 6 pm.

Which is why, in those two days, Ganesh soaked in the magnitude of what he had achieved. Within hours, the archer won an individual bronze medal to go with a gold in the team compound event. This came hours after the women's and mixed teams had also bagged top honours. Ganesh, Kushal Dalal and Sahil Rajesh...