Aichi-Nagoya: Shooter Neeru Dhanda claimed India’s fifth gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games after topping the women’s individual trap final on Tuesday, capping a memorable day that also saw her help the country secure silver in the team event.
Dhanda finished the eight-shooter final with 26 points, holding her nerve in wet conditions to take the top spot. China’s Sun Yunong and Kuwait’s Hajar Abdulmalik shared second place with 21 points each, while Qatar’s Ray Bassil finished fourth with 16.
The Indian started the final with a perfect five-hit opening series. After one miss in the second round, she quickly regained her rhythm, producing another clean series in the third round and reaching 19 hits from 20 attempts after four series.
Dhanda had earlier topped the individual qualification round jointly with Bassil before going on to seal the gold in the final.
Earlier in the day, Dhanda, Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer won silver in the women’s trap team event. The Indian trio accumulated 328 points, finishing behind gold medallists China, who scored 346, while Kuwait took bronze with 325.
Dhanda was India’s highest scorer in the team competition with 118 out of 125. Aashima contributed 106 and Manisha 104 to take India to the podium.
In archery, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Neeraj Chauhan progressed to the men’s recurve individual quarterfinals. Dhiraj defeated the Philippines’ Girvin Garcia 6-0 in the Round of 32 before overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Hsiang-Hui 6-2 in the Round of 16. Neeraj beat Indonesia’s Riau Ega Agata Salsabilla 6-4 and followed it with a 6-4 victory over South Korea’s Kim Je-deok.
India also completed a 3-0 win over Iran in their final women’s squash pool match. Tanvi Khanna received a walkover after Narges Soltani retired in the opening game, while Anahat Singh defeated Fereshteh Eghtedari 11-5, 11-4, 11-7. Joshna Chinappa then completed the sweep with an 11-1, 11-3, 11-9 victory over Najmeh Boushehrizadeh.
The Indian women’s squash team finished the group stage unbeaten after winning all three matches and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, India’s cycling teams endured difficult qualification rounds. Rojit Singh, David Beckham and Ronaldo Singh finished seventh among eight teams in the men’s team sprint, while Celestina, Sarita Kumari and Keerthi Rangaswamy placed sixth and last in the women’s event.
In kurash, Vipin Kumar exited the men’s 66kg competition after losing 0-3 to South Korea’s Hoon Hyeon-su in the Round of 16. Surfing also saw India’s Kishore Kumar Anbarasu bow out in the men’s shortboard quarterfinals after losing 5.37-8.53 to the Philippines’ Toby Espejon.
