Neeru Dhanda Wins India's First Individual Gold Medal Of Asian Games 2026

Neeru Dhanda continued to impress with an Asian Games medal |Courtesy - NRAI

Neeru Dhanda ended India's 10-day wait for an individual gold medal in the 2026 Asian Games by winning the gold medal in the Women's trap event. She delivered a flawless performance in the finals after carrying the Indian women's team to a silver medal earlier in the day.

Neeru put up an exceptional performance in the final event as she missed only two of her 30 shots. Her final score of 28/30 is an Asian record. The Silver medal was won by China's Sun Yungong, while Kuwait's Hajar Abdulmalik took home the bronze medal. The 26-year-old Indian dominated the competition from the start after finishing joint-first in the qualification event alongside Qatar's Ray Bassil with 118 hits.

Incredibly, Neeru is the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Women's trap event in the history of the continental event. In fact, no other Indian female shooter had previously found herself on the podium in the Asian Games, making it the first medal of any colour in the event for India.

Neeru hails from Jind district in Haryana and took up shooting by taking inspiration from her maternal cousin Lakshya Sheron winning the silver medal in the Men's trap individual event in the 2018 edition of the Asian Games in Jakarta.

Fer family moved to Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri, where she took up shooting. After initially training with Lakshya, she joined the Madhya Pradesh academy. Before that, her father started her journey in the sport by making her practice hitting at tin cans.

Earlier this year, she created history at the ISSF World Cup by becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual trap event gold medal in the tournament's history. Last year, she also won the gold in both the individual and women's trap events at the Asian Championships.

This is India's fifth gold medal in the ongoing Asian Games (second in shooting) after the Indian Women's cricket team, the Indian men's and women's Kabaddi team, and the 10m mixed pistol team event (Suruchi Singh/Kamaljeet).

Aayush Kataria is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Network with four years of experience, having started his career in the organisation. He is a key memb... View More