The Neeru Dhanda Asian Games gold story began with an unlikely reaction to a gun: fear. As a child in Haryana, Neeru was fascinated by toy guns and tractors, but when she eventually held a real shotgun, its sound frightened her so much that she threw it away. Years later, the same sport would take her to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where she calmly broke 28 of 30 targets to win a historic individual gold.
Her Asian Games campaign ended with two gold medals and a silver, including India’s first individual women’s trap gold at the Games in 48 years.
From Jind to the Shooting Range
Neeru grew up in Sangatpura village in Haryana’s Jind district in a modest farming family. Her father is a farmer, while her mother, Sudesh Devi, supplemented the family income by selling buffalo milk.
Shooting was hardly an obvious career choice. Neeru had initially been associated with kabaddi and says she was not particularly strong academically.
Her cousin Lakshay Sheoran, who won a shooting silver at the 2018 Asian Games, eventually introduced her to trap shooting. Watching his success changed her perspective.
She began practising with Lakshay’s family’s gun, initially shooting at tin cans. His father, Somveer, helped her adjust to the recoil and demands of the sport.
In 2019, she moved to the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy in Bhopal. She was only around 17 or 18 and struggled emotionally with leaving home.
“I had to do it,” she recalled, explaining that her family’s circumstances gave her little room to simply walk away.
The Price of Becoming a Shooter
Shotgun shooting is an expensive sport, requiring guns, ammunition, training and travel. Neeru’s early career depended heavily on support from programmes including SAI and Khelo India.
She remembers receiving ₹10,000 and 120 cartridges during the early stages of her development. She has described that support as something athletes should invest in their training rather than treat as spending money.
Her philosophy became simple: if she wanted a different future, something had to be sacrificed.
The Indian Army later became another important part of her journey. Neeru eventually became a Naib Subedar in the Corps of Military Police and trained at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow.
Her results began to follow. She won Asian Championship gold in 2025 and, in July 2026, became the first Indian woman to win an individual ISSF World Cup gold in trap in Lonato, Italy.
From Hospital to Asian Games Gold
The Asian Games presented an even bigger challenge.
Just 10 days before the individual final, Neeru had been discharged from hospital after an infection that had kept her away from training for around three and a half weeks.
Despite the disrupted preparation, she stepped onto a rain-soaked range in Nagoya and delivered when it mattered most, breaking 28 of 30 targets to claim gold.
Earlier, she had won a women’s team silver with Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer. The following day, she added another gold alongside Kynan Chenai in the mixed team event.
Two golds and a silver became the headline numbers of her Asian Games campaign.
Carrying the Indian Flag Meant Even More
For Neeru, however, the most emotional moment came after the medals.
She was chosen as India’s flag-bearer at the Asian Games closing ceremony, something she described as an even bigger feeling than winning a medal.
The moment carried particular meaning because her mother had once told her that she wanted to see Neeru carrying the Indian flag and winning Olympic gold.
Now, the Olympic dream belongs to Neeru herself.
At 26, she says she has many goals, including becoming an Olympic champion, but remains focused on preparing for the next competition rather than looking too far ahead.
Her journey has travelled a remarkable distance: from a village where expensive shooting equipment was beyond the family’s means, to the international podium.
The girl who once chose toy guns over dolls and threw away her first real shotgun eventually learned to master the very sound that had frightened her.
And for Neeru Dhanda, the journey has only just begun.
Relevant Link: ISSF Official Website
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