Neeru Dhanda, a 26-year-old, scripted history on Tuesday, winning India’s first individual gold at the 2026 Asian Games. She took home the biggest prize with a score of 28, which also set the Asian record, surpassing the previous mark of 24, set by Liu Wan-yu in January this year. After winning the women’s individual final, there was a sense of relief on Neeru’s face, and the smile couldn’t be any wider.
And why shouldn’t she be happy? After all, the shooter from Haryana became the first Indian woman to clinch gold in the women’s trap individual event at the Asian Games. Earlier, five Indian male shooters had won medals in trap at the Asiad, with Randhir Singh clinching gold way back in 1978, but no Indian woman had managed to secure a place on the podium in this event until now.
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In the final, the Indian dominated the contest throughout, and in her final ten shots, she missed just once to bring the country’s fifth gold medal of the ongoing Games. Earlier in the competition, she had topped the qualification with 118 hits while her compatriots Aashima Ahlawat (106) and Manisha Keer (104) finished 16th and 23rd, respectively. The combined effort was enough for the three to win a silver medal in the women’s trap team event. The twin medals on Tuesday took India’s shooting tally at the 2026 Asian Games to 14.
All you need to know about Neeru
Neeru specialises in the trap event and has emerged as one of the leading shooters in the country. She first stole the limelight after representing the country at the 2022 ISSF World Championship in Osijek, and has since been a regular finalist on the ISSF circuit.
In 2026, Neeru made history as the first Indian woman to win an individual ISSF World Cup gold medal in Women’s Trap at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy. This was her first-ever individual medal at the ISSF World Cup and the second overall in her career.
She later also secured a bronze medal in the Trap Mixed Team event at the ISSF World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Moreover, Neeru has a gold medal to her name at the Asian Shooting Championship in women’s trap, and this achievement came in 2025.