India’s Neeru Dhanda created history on Tuesday by clinching the country’s first-ever individual gold medal in women’s trap shooting at the Asian Games.Neeru made a strong start to the final, hitting all five of her opening shots before finishing the first 10 shots with nine hits. She responded with a perfect series in the next five shots and remained in control of the medal round.Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal TallyNeeru finished with 27 hits after 30 shots before going on to seal the gold medal, completing a memorable individual triumph.The victory came after Neeru had already helped India win silver in the women’s trap team event earlier in the competition.Neeru, Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer combined for 328 to finish behind China’s gold-winning 346, while Kuwait took bronze with 325.Neeru had also topped the individual qualification jointly with 118 points to book her place in the final.Aashima and Manisha missed out on the individual final after scoring 106 and 104 respectively.India’s men’s trap team of Shapath Bharadwaj, Kynan Chenai and Ahvar Rizvi finished sixth with a combined score of 339. Shapath qualified for the men’s individual final after surviving a three-way shoot-off.Earlier in the Games, Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh had won India’s shooting gold in the mixed 10m air pistol event.In archery, Kumkum Mohod reached the women’s recurve individual quarterfinals with a 6-0 win over Bangladesh’s Saima Salahuddin. She will face top seed South Korea’s Kang Chae-young in the last eight on October 3.Kumkum is India’s lone representative in the women’s recurve individual quarterfinals after Kirti Sharma lost 3-7 to Kang in the Round of 16.
