Neeru Dhanda wins India’s first ever individual women’s trap gold at Asian Games

Neeru Dhanda on Tuesday scripted history by becoming India's first shooter to win an Asian Games individual gold medal in the women's trap competition with a record-shattering score after leading the country to a team silver in the same event here.

The 26-year-old from Haryana, who became the first Indian woman to win a World Cup trap gold medal in July this year, won the gold at Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery with a score of 28, surpassing the previous Asian Record of 24.

China's Sun Yunong took the silver with a score of 26, while Kuwait's Abdulmalik Hajar settled for bronze after shooting 21.

"I dedicate this medal to the soldiers of the Indian Army who do a much bigger task defending the nation and to Late Raja Randhir Singh, who won India's first trap gold in the Asian Games back in 1978," Neeru said.

"My cousin Lakshay Sheoran, who is a trap silver-medallist from the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games motivated me to take up trap shooting. I eventually moved to the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal because I was getting the gun and ammunition for free," she added while talking about her journey so far.

No Indian woman trap shooter had won an individual medal at the Asian Games before this.

After Randhir Singh's historic gold in the men's individual trap event of the 1978 edition, Ronjan Sodhi claimed the top honours in the men's double trap event at the 2010 Asiad.

Neeru had qualified for the eight-shooter final after finishing as joint topper along with Qatar's Ray Bassil at 118, which is a qualification Games record.

The trio of Neeru (118), Aashima Ahlawat (106) and Manisha Keer (104) finished with a combined total of 328 to end second behind gold-medallists China (346) in the women's event.

The Chinese team comprised Liu Shanshan, Sun Yunong and Zhu Jingyu.

Kuwait's trio of Alhawal Shahad, Abdulmalik Hajar and Alhawal Sarah bagged the bronze medal with a combined total of 325.

In the individual list, Ahlawat and Keer finished 16th and 23rd respectively in the individual qualification, failing to make the finals.

The Indian men's trap team, however, finished a disappointing sixth among 10 teams.

But Shapath Bharadwaj qualified for the final after finishing eighth.

The 24-year-old from Meerut prevailed in a shoot-off for the last two qualification spots, edging out Mohammed Al-Rumaihi to secure the eighth and final berth.

However, he ended at the last position, becoming one of the early eliminations.

The trio of Bharadwaj, Kynan Chenai and Ahvar Rizvi managed a combined total of 339.

Kuwait clinched the men's team gold with 355, while Qatar (349) and Kazakhstan (348) took the silver and bronze, respectively.

The Indian men's trap team of Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Tondaiman had won gold at the previous edition in China.

This was India's second shooting gold at the ongoing mega-event.

Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet had earlier combined to fetch gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team competition. India have so far won five gold medals at the current edition of the Games.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed)