After winning a silver medal in the team event, Neeru Dhanda scripted an even greater story in the individual final—claiming a historic gold by hitting 28 out of 30 targets with pinpoint accuracy.
The significance of this achievement is immense: it marks India’s first-ever gold medal in the women’s individual trap event at the Asian Games. Facing a formidable challenge from China, she remained unshaken under pressure—her aim steady and her focus unwavering. With 28 perfect shots, Neeru set a new Asian Games record.
Neeru’s journey from the Jind district of Haryana is nothing short of cinematic. When she first took up shooting, she used a gun borrowed from her cousin, Lakshya Sheoran—a silver medalist at the 2018 Asian Games. That childhood habit of aiming at tin cans with the family gun eventually evolved into a dream of professional shooting.
Today, Neeru is a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army’s Military Police Corps and trains at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow. Earlier this year, she had already made history by becoming the first Indian female trap shooter to win a World Cup gold at the Lonato World Cup. Today, another golden chapter has been added to that legacy.
From a silver morning to a golden afternoon—Neeru’s journey proves that sometimes, a wait of just a few hours is all it takes to change the color of a medal. The girl from the soil of Jind has now etched a golden mark across the Asian sporting landscape, writing a new chapter in the history of Indian shooting with her own hands.
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