How Neeru Dhanda beat 'bib jinx' to win India's first women's trap gold

When Neeru Dhanda lined up for the women’s trap final at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy, she had already accomplished one of her goals.

Her aim was to earn a higher bib number than she had in her previous two finals at the ISSF World Cups.

On Saturday, the Naib Subedar from Jind, Haryana, did much more than that when she became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold medal in the women's trap event at the World Cup.

"In the last two World Cups, I missed out on a medal because of the bib number rule. Every time I got a smaller bib number. Last time too, I finished fourth. This time, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. No excuses," Neeru told The Bridge from Italy on Sunday.

"My coach was also very excited because I topped the qualification and then performed well in the final despite competing against Olympic medallists and world champions," she added.

Neeru topped the qualification with 121 out of a possible 125 targets, earning the No. 1 bib for the final.

New bib numbers are allotted to all the eight finalists just ahead of the ranking series. In the final, the athlete with the lower bib number always shoots first and in case of a tie, the athlete with the higher Bib number (lower Qualification Ranking) is considered to move further. Neeru had to endure heartbreaks due to lower bib numbers twice previously.

In the final, Neeru was locked at 25-all with former world champion and Olympian Carole Cormenier of France with just two targets remaining. The Indian held her nerve and finished with 27 hits out of 30 to clinch the gold medal.

"I told myself all the other finalists will give their 100 percent, so I have to give my 200 percent. They are all very experienced," she said.

Reflecting further on her performance, Neeru added, "The best feeling was that I was able to break the barrier. And now we will see a lot more medals coming from trap."

Neerum who was introduced to the sport by her cousin Lakshya Sheoran – a medallist from the 2018 Asian Games – has been training in shooting academies in New Delhi and Bhopal and credited India’s foreign shotgun coach Peter Wilson for her achievement.

"We trained in London for 10 days. Our coach took us to his home terrain. We maintained our energy levels and trained really well. After the final, he was very excited because it was our first medal," she said.

'No one really said anything. The feeling was next level. There were no words," she added, still trying to put the moment into words.