Neeru Dhanda strikes women’s trap gold at 68th NSCC

New Delhi: Asian Championship gold medallist Neeru Dhanda delivered a composed performance to strike women’s trap gold at the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions (Shotgun) on Monday, here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Neeru finished on top with 41 hits in the final, holding off a strong challenge from Delhi’s Kirti Gupta, who got silver medal with 40. Neeru’s state teammate from Madhya Pradesh, Pragati Dubey completed the podium, claiming the bronze medal with 32 hits.

Earlier in qualification, Pragati topped the field with 117, followed by Neeru on 114 and Rajeshwari Kumari on 113. Addya Katyal qualified fourth with 112, while Preeti Rajak (111+1) and Kirti Gupta (111) rounded off the top six, their positions decided on shoot-off scores. In the finals, Addya Katyal of Delhi finished fourth with 27, followed by Preeti Rajak with 21 and Punjab’s Olympian Rajeshwari Kumari, who finished sixth with 17 hits.

The junior men’s trap final saw Aryavansh Tyagi rise to the occasion with a strong finish, shooting 42 to win the gold medal. Punjab’s Keshav Chauhan took silver with 37, while Uttar Pradesh’s Zuhair Khan claimed the bronze with 30.

Zuhair Khan had earlier dominated the qualification round with a score of 120, ahead of Aryan Singh’s 118, who finished the final at fifth with 21 hits. Aryavansh Tyagi and Arjun both shot 115, with Aryavansh advancing ahead on a shoot-off. Keshav Chauhan (113) and Manitwa Singh Rawat (112) completed the list of finalists. Manitwal Singh Rawat finished fourth with 27(112) while Arjun of Haryana finished sixth with 14 hits in the final.

Neeru Dhanda (centre), Kirti Gupta (left) and Pragati Dubey

In the team events, Madhya Pradesh dominated the women’s trap team event, winning gold with a combined total of 339 from Pragati Dubey, Neeru Dhanda and Manisha Keer. Delhi secured the silver medal with 333 through Addya Katyal, Kirti Gupta and Bhavya Tripathi, while Punjab claimed bronze with 319 (Rajeshwari Kumari, Pukhraj Kaur Chahal, Krishika Joshi).

Haryana claimed the junior men’s trap team gold with an aggregate score of 336, courtesy of Arjun, Lakshya Atree and Prikshit Arya. Gujarat finished second to take the silver medal with 327 (Aryan Singh, Bakhtyar Uddin Mohamadmuzahid, Manavrajsinh Rajendrasinh Chudasama, while Rajasthan claimed bronze with 326 through Udhav Singh Rathore, Prithviraj Singh Rathore and Vinay Pratap Singh C.

Delhi claimed the gold in the junior women’s trap team event, as Addya Katyal, Bhavya Tripathi and Ananya Yaduvanshi combined for a winning total of 323. Tamil Nadu finished second with 295, while Rajasthan secured the bronze with 274.

Tags : Neeru Dhanda, Shooting, Karni Singh Range, Kirti Gupta, Pragati Dubey