BD NarayankarBengaluru, Sept. 25 -- Some sporting careers are written in medals. Manpreet Kaur's has been written in comebacks.

On Friday, at 30, the Indian shot putter finally won her maiden Asian Games medal, taking bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Games. The medal was the culmination of a decade in which she learnt that in sport, as in life, the hardest part is often not reaching the top but finding the courage to begin again.

Manpreet has been a national champion seven times. She has competed at the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. She has a personal best of 18.06m and an Asian Athletics Championships bronze.

Yet, for all those credentials, the Asian Games podium had remained stubbornly out of reach.

Behind Friday's medal lie...