Neeru Dhanda makes history with India’s first Asian Games individual gold in women’s trap

India’s Neeru Dhanda (PTI Photo) Neeru Dhanda on Tuesday made history by becoming the first Indian shooter to win a gold medal at the Asian Games in women’s trap, breaking the continental record.The 26-year-old from Haryana hit an eight-shot score of 28 in the final, breaking the previous Asian record of 24, to win the gold medal.Asian Games full coverage | Schedule | Medal totalNeeru triumphed after helping India secure silver in the women’s trap team competition earlier in the competition. Her latest achievement is all the more significant as no Indian trap or skeet shooter has won an individual medal at the Asian Games before.Randhir Singh won India’s historic individual gold in the men’s individual trap at the 1978 Games, while Ronjan Sodhi won the 2010 individual gold in the men’s double trap.Neeru entered the final as one of the joint leaders after topping the qualifiers along with Qatar’s Ray Bassil with 118 points. The score was also a game record for the qualifier.The Haryana shooter has been in exceptional form this year. In July, she became the first Indian woman to win a World Cup trap gold medal at the Shotgun World Cup in Italy.Earlier at the Asian Games, Neeru, Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer combined for 328 to win silver in the women’s trap team event. China won gold with 346, while Kuwait secured bronze with 325.The Chinese team consisted of Liu Shanshan, Sun Yunong and Zhu Jingyu, while Kuwait was represented by Alhawal Shahad, Abdulmalik Hajar and Alhawal Sarah.Aashima and Manisha could not make it to the singles final, finishing 16th and 23rd in the qualifiers after scoring 106 and 104 points respectively.