Shooter Neeru told PM Modi’s mother that he will meet her. Now she made it possible

“Mom, PM Modi will meet me himself. I will do such a good job that PM Modi himself will meet me. He will also feed us there. PM Modi will call us to meet him,” Neeru’s mother Sudesh Devi told IANS, recalling what her daughter had told her before leaving for the Asian Games.

On Tuesday, in a rain-hit finale in Nagoya, Neeru did the part that was in her hands. She became the first Indian woman to win individual gold at the Asian Games in trap shootingthus setting a new game record with 28 hits out of 30.

Little did her mother know, however, that she was watching her daughter make history.

There was no television or smartphone at home in Sangatpura, Jind. Sudesh was on her way to collect the family’s Under Poverty Line wheat ration when a journalist called her to tell her that Neeru had won the gold. At first she thought he was referring to the silver medal Neeru had won earlier in the women’s team trap competition.

“When I came to know about this, I was on my way to collect my below poverty line (BPL) wheat ration. We are poor, we have zero balance,” Sudesh told ANI.

Neeru helped India win silver in the women’s trap team event along with Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer. A day later, she performed a performance that changed the color of her medal. She won 118 out of 125 in the qualifiers, leveling Qatar’s Raya Bassil, before holding her nerve in heavy rain to win the singles final.

There was more gold on Wednesday. Neeru teamed up with Kynan Chenai to win the mixed team trap title as they scored 34 points in the final to set a new Asian Games record. It was the first medal for India in the mixed team trap. Neeru Dhanda and Kynan Chenai with gold medal in mixed team trap (Screengrab by SonyLIV)

The second gold also carried its impressiveness. Neeru dedicated Tuesday’s individual title to the late Raj Randhir Singh, India’s first Asian Games trap gold medalist who won the men’s event in 1978. Her gold came 48 years after his.

It was a small surprise for Chenai to see Neera delivering.

Talking to India Ahead of the Games today, the 35-year-old pointed to her recent form as a source of confidence for India’s shotgun squad. Neeru won the individual gold at the ISSF World Championships in Lonat in July, becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual gold at the Trap World Cup.

SHOOTING OBSTACLES

This Lonata win made Neeru one of the Indian shooters to watch in Nagoya. What followed made her one of the faces of India’s shotgun campaign.

It’s a rise that began with another shooter in the family. Neeru was inspired to shoot after watching her cousin Lakshay Sheoran win a silver medal in men’s trap at the 2018 Asian Games. Initially using Lakshay’s gun, she moved to the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal in 2019, where access to equipment and ammunition allowed her to take up the sport seriously.

The journey was not without obstacles. Barely 10 days before the Asian Games, Neeru was hospitalized in Bhopal after a severe bout of flu with suspected H1N1. She was on a liquid diet for five days and couldn’t train for several weeks. Her participation in the games themselves was uncertain.

Her personal trainer Mansher Singh urged her to put the illness behind her and focus on the goal. She finally arrived in Nagoya and brought the biggest results of her career.

Neeru’s prediction to her mother seemed ambitious when she made it. She gave it some substance in Nagoya, becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual gold at the Asian Games in trap, before adding another gold in the mixed team event with Chenai.

Now all that is left is for Neeru to meet PM Modi. Having been one of the faces of India’s shooting campaign in Nagoya, she might still get a chance to tell him about the promise she made to her mother.

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