Neeru Dhanda Wins India's First Individual Gold of the Games

Neeru Dhanda won India's first individual gold medal of the Asian Games on Monday, topping the women's trap final with a score of 28 — a new Games record, beating the old mark by four clay pigeons. Every other Indian gold at these Games so far has come from a team: women's cricket, both kabaddi titles, the mixed pistol pair. This one was hers alone.

China's Sun Yunong took silver on 26, with Kuwait's Hajar Abdulmalik third on 21. Dhanda had already topped qualification jointly with Qatar's Ray Bassil on 118 out of 125, a Games qualification record, before going one better in the final.

It capped a big day rather than starting one. A few hours earlier, Dhanda had shot in the team event alongside Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer, finishing with silver behind China. Individual gold, team silver, same competition, same afternoon.

Dhanda, 26, is a Naib Subedar in the Army's Corps of Military Police and trains under Olympic trap champion Peter Wilson. She took up the sport after watching her cousin Lakshay Sheoran win men's trap silver at the 2018 Asian Games, starting out firing at tin cans with a family shotgun. The rise since has been quick: an Asian Championship gold last year, then an individual ISSF World Cup gold in Lonato in July — the first by an Indian woman in women's trap — and now this.

President Droupadi Murmu marked the win directly: "It is a moment of immense pride to see the Tiranga fly high in Aichi-Nagoya as Neeru Dhanda wins India's first individual Gold Medal at the Asian Games 2026."