13 and counting! Indian shooters add women’s trap silver as Neeru Dhanda reaches final

India added another medal to its impressive shooting haul at the Asian Games on Tuesday, with Neeru Dhanda, Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer combining to win silver in the women’s trap team event.

The Indian trio finished with a combined score of 328 after completing the 125-shot qualification round at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery.

China claimed the gold medal with 346 points, while Kuwait secured bronze with 325.

The team medal took India’s shooting tally at the Asian Games to 13, underlining the strong contribution of the shooting contingent to the country’s overall medal count.

Dhanda, meanwhile, will have another opportunity to add to India’s tally after booking her place in the individual trap final. She finished joint-top in qualification with a score of 118.

However, Ahlawat and Keer could not make the individual final. Aashima scored 106 to finish 16th, while Manisha recorded 104 and ended the qualification round in 23rd place.

The Indian shooting campaign will continue in the men’s trap competition, where Kynan Chenai, Shapath Bharadwaj and Azhar Rizvi are competing in the individual qualification as well as the team event.

India had also added a shooting silver on Monday through Esha Singh in the women’s 25m pistol event.

Singh came agonisingly close to gold after an intense contest against China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan.

The two shooters were tied on 38 hits after 50 shots, matching the Asian Games record and forcing a shoot-off to decide the champion.

The first shoot-off ended with both shooters registering four hits from five targets. Jiaruixuan eventually prevailed 3-2 in the second shoot-off to take gold, leaving Singh with silver.

The result gave the Indian player her second consecutive Asian Games silver in the women’s 25m pistol.

She had also finished runner-up in the same event at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, where she was part of India’s gold-winning team alongside Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan.

India’s shooting campaign has already produced one gold medal at the ongoing Games. Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh won the mixed 10m air pistol title to open India’s gold account in shooting.

With the women’s trap team silver added on Tuesday, India’s shooting medal tally has now reached 13.

Across all disciplines, India have won 46 medals at the ongoing Asian Games, comprising four gold, 21 silver and 21 bronze. Neeru’s individual trap final now gives the Indian shooting contingent another chance to add to that tally.