Aichi Nagoya. India has won another gold in Shooting. Neeru Dhanda has created history. She has become the first female player from India to win gold or rather win a medal in the women's shotgun trap individual event. He hit 28 out of 30 shots accurately on target in the final. China's Yunong Sun won silver with a score of 26. With this Neeru also broke the Asian record. She also became the first player to win gold in an individual event at this Asiad.
With this, the 36-year wait for Indian shooting in the Asian Games finally ended. The women's shotgun trap individual event became a part of the Asian Games in 1990, but India could not win a single medal in this event until the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Neeru created history by ending this long wait in Aichi-Nagoya. That is, when India got its first medal in this event, it came directly in the form of gold.
India has won one gold in the men's individual trap event. Randhir Singh had won gold in the 1978 Bangkok Asiad, but for the first time there was no medal among women. Randhir won a bronze in the men's individual trap event at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games. Whereas, Manavjeet Singh Sandhu had won silver in the 2006 Doha Games. Apart from this, Lakshya Sheoran (Neeru's brother) won silver in the 2018 Jakarta Asiad. In 2022, Keenan Chenai had captured the bronze. That means India has won five medals in the men's individual trap event.
Neeru broke Asian record
Neeru's score of 28 was not limited to just winning the gold medal. With this performance he also made an Asian record. Earlier, the Asian record for women's trap individual event was 24 points. Wan Yu Liu of Chinese Taipei made this record on January 19, 2026. Neeru improved the old record by four points by shooting 28 targets in the final.
India has been waiting for this event since 1990
The women's shotgun trap event was first played at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. Since then, till the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, players from China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand and Lebanon have won medals, but India has failed to find a place on the podium. Now Neeru has changed this story.
India's first individual gold in Aichi-Nagoya
Neeru's gold in this Asiad is also special for India because it is the country's first gold medal in the individual event. Earlier, four of India's golds had come in team or mixed team events. The women's cricket team won the gold, the men's Kabaddi team won the title, the women's Kabaddi team also won the gold and India got the gold in the shooting 10 meter air pistol mixed team event, but after all this, now Neeru has won the gold medal for India for the first time in the individual event.
28 targets out of 30 and names in history
For Neeru it is not just a medal. This is India's first podium finish in the event for which the country had been waiting since 1990. After 36 years, when India's name was added to the list of women's trap gold medal winners, that too with the name of Neeru Dhanda. First medal, first gold and new Asian record, Niru achieved three big achievements simultaneously in Aichi-Nagoya.