CHENNAI: Neeru Dhanda entered uncharted territory by producing performances of a lifetime on Friday and Saturday.
At the iconic Olympic Shooting Range in Lonato del Garda (Italy), which has witnessed numerous shooters produce legendary performances over the years, the Haryana shooter went about her shooting like a seasoned pro to gun down the gold medal in the women's trap event of the ongoing ISSF World Cup.
Up against some of the marquee names of the sport, the 26-year-old held her own to ace the eight-woman final, returning with the top prize in the process.
It's her first gold medal at this level. More notably, it's also India's first in this particular category. Never before had an Indian climbed atop the podium in this particular event in the history of World Cups.
She was a picture of focus and determination throughout the 30-shot final, where she garnered an impressive return of 27 hits. Carole Cormenier of France, 10 years her senior, kept her honest until the very end but in a tense battle, the former world champion erred twice to eventually finish second-best -- two hits behind the Indian.
This winning feeling might have been new for her and the country, but she had been showing signs of a promise over the last 12 months or so. It was a kind of performance Mansher Singh, India high performance manager (shotgun), had been anticipating for some time.
"She shot well in the beginning of the year in Almaty. We knew there was something coming. We were training to get her confidence level up and she had won a medal in the mixed event, which made a big impact. She is a very strong, especially in the finals," he told The New Indian Express.
It's also a redemption of sorts for Neeru, who had narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the same venue just last year. However, she had bounced back to grab the gold medal during the Asian Championships in Shymkent the same year. Mansher said her opening day performance had been a sore point that had been hurting her chances of wins in the past. Having focussed on that issue, Neeru had made a flawless start on Friday, something that had given her the platform to shine and finish with aplomb barely 24 hours later. Friday's 75 hits out of 75 during the first three stages of qualification was such a morale booster that Mansher had challenged her win the competition.
"The only thing we were working on was the first day's performance, which was not coming up to the extent that she could easily be in the finals. You have to be in the final."
"It was a bit of an issue but she had an incredible first day on Friday. It can't get better than 75 out of 75. Lonato is a shooting range where I have shot many times. I was joking with her yesterday (Friday), 'even I had shot 75 when I won a quota for the Beijing Olympics in 2007' and I told her 'you got to go one better'. She asked, 'what's one better?' and I said 'you got to win it'. I said I didn't win but I won a quota. She said 'okay, we'll have a bet, I'll do one better.' So she called today (Saturday) asking if she did one better. Her attitude was spot on yesterday (Friday)."
Despite this significant result, Mansher is not getting carried away one bit. "You have to have the winning mentality, which she had. It's always been ups and downs. But she has become much stronger. She's possibly a very strong shooter in the final now, some you can't take lightly. Today (Saturday), she showed it."
A champion shooter during his playing days, Mansher felt Neeru and the rest of the shooters in the team should be striving for gold and nothing less. He wants the shooters to attain that winning mindset with the bigger picture -- 2028 LA Olympics -- in mind.
"Gold is what is very important at the end of the day. Our goal is not just winning a medal. Our goal is to be strong enough to be a contender in 2028. The whole plan was to consider it as a quota place competition.
"We have got to start thinking like that. Thinking of just winning silver or bronze is not enough. We need gold to make it to LA. And when we have that, then we'll work on what we have to do to ensure that we're ready for the Games. What she has done is monumental but we still have a job to do."
Neeru's immediate test will be the mixed team event, which is set to be held on Sunday. With new-found confidence on her side, she'll be hoping to challenge for aiming for gold and nothing less.
