Something From The Weekend: Deepika Kumari; Lucas di Grassi; Rochelle Gilmore

The good

Deepika Kumari

There has been much sniping about the Commonwealth Games. Yep, the athletes' village might look a bit like a Hackney crack den and, sure, there have been more cases of dodgy tummy than in a norovirus laboratory. But this weekend we had a reminder of what it's all about. Teenager Deepika Kumari took her second gold when she won the women's individual recurve archery in front of a rapturous home crowd. The 16-year-old comes from a modest background – her father is an autorickshaw driver – and she found she had an eye for bows and arrows by throwing stones at mangoes in the trees near her home in eastern India. So stop all your whining, you critics, and bask in sport's infinite ability to provide rags-to-riches fairy tales.

The Bad

Lucas di Grassi

"For me, this is easily the most technically challenging track of the season. There is no margin for any mistakes as the track is very fast and narrow and if you push too hard you're definitely going to go off." So said Virgin Racing's young Brazilian driver (above) on Friday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. What happened? He crashed heavily into the barriers on his way to the grid before the race had even started. So his pre-race analysis was about right.

The Odd

Rochelle Gilmore

The Australian cyclist held off the challenge of Lizzie Armitstead to take gold in the women's road race in Delhi yesterday. But the Yorkshirewoman's pursuit was not the only challenge that Gilmore managed to overcome. "We weren't expecting so much dirt and dust," she said. "We could taste the dirt in our mouths but we didn't think about that. Apart from the wild monkeys and dogs, there was nothing too challenging. We were told there would be no wild animals but there were." Wild dogs? Monkeys? Not too challenging? Really? Now, Rochelle, you do know that cyclists don't have to put up with that sort of thing in the Tour de France?