NAGOYA: Neeru Dhanda has been living a dream at the moment.
On Tuesday, the 26-year-old etched her name in the history books by becoming the first-ever woman trap shooter from India to capture a gold medal in the Asian Games.
Barely 24 hours later, she added gloss to her journey by capturing yet another gold medal -- this time alongside Kynan Chenai in the mixed team trap event at the Aichi General Shooting Range in Aichi, Nagoya.
This was India's third gold in shooting in the ongoing edition of the games. In total, the shooters have contributed 15 medals. Across sports, this was India's 10th gold.
After just managing to make the final cut, the India duo, especially Neeru, had a shaky start. But she once again did not let that lose her concentration and made a brilliant recovery to finish with a bang. Kynan was as impressive and ensured that India returned with nothing but gold. In the end, the pair ended up with a record-breaking (Asian Record) tally of 34.Qatar finished second with 32 while China finished third with a tally of 23.Earlier, the Indians had qualified for the four-team final as the fourth-best team with a score of 136. China had finished on top with a Qualification Games Record mark of 142.
What a remarkable journey Neeru has had. From having zero training in the build-up to the Games due to illness to this, the script couldn't have been written better.
Neeru had also captured the team silver medal in the women's trap event alongside Manisha Keer and Aashima Ahlawat on Tuesday.