Nagoya, Sep 29 (IANS): Indian trap-shooting coach Peter Wilson praised Neeru Dhanda’s remarkable composure after the shooter overcame a difficult build-up and challenging weather conditions to win the women’s trap individual gold at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday.
Dhanda, who had topped qualification, produced 28 hits in the final to claim a historic gold for India. But according to Wilson, the achievement was even more significant given that the 26-year-old had been struggling with illness less than two weeks before the competition.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, I’ve got to admit. Considering Neeru was very poorly only 10 days, 12 days ago, and it was looking like she might not even be able to make the Asian Games. She didn’t do any training in the build-up. And so to be here now, having her lead from the very front, it’s been an attritional three days, long three days. And then to shoot 28 out of 30 in the way she did, I couldn’t be happier for her,” Wilson told reporters after Neeru’s win.
Wilson, a British Olympic champion who won double trap gold at the London 2012 Games, said the final demanded exceptional concentration as persistent rain combined with fading light to make conditions increasingly difficult.
“I mean, the conditions were really tricky. You know, it just rained all day. And now we’re very lucky, it stopped raining, but it’s getting dark. So not only was it raining, the light was dim. And that again makes it more tricky. So you struggle to get a good connection with the gun. And then, of course, as you’re looking down the rib, the rain’s bouncing off it. You’re getting wet, the rain’s running down the back of your neck. It’s really very, very difficult,” he added.
The pressure intensified as the final progressed and shooters were eliminated in stages. Dhanda herself faced an additional hurdle when she received a yellow card for taking too long over a shot, a decision Wilson challenged before the jury.
“And all the while, people are getting bibbed out, knocked out. You’re going in blocks of 10, then 5 and 5 and 5. And in that moment, she was needing one more target to win gold. And then she got given a yellow card for taking too much time, which I felt was really unfair because they’d started the timer too early. I objected with the jury, they resettled. Neeru was incredible. She was more composed than anybody. And she settles herself and shoots it.”
For Wilson, the key before the final was not to burden Dhanda with the significance of the occasion, despite her finishing top of qualification.
“Just grind them down and work one target at a time. It’s really very simple. Hard to do, easy to say. Of course, there is other stuff that’s going on in one’s mind, but you have to try and catch that, bring it back to this moment. Be present and just one target at a time.”
With the Asian Games gold secured, the Indian team will turn its attention to the mixed team event before beginning preparations for the World Championships in Doha.
“So now we’ve got a mixed team tomorrow, so we dust ourselves down this evening and go hard for tomorrow. Back home then to India. And I’m hoping these guys are going to have a couple of weeks off, maybe a touch longer, just to decompress. This has been an amazing competition for us, for Neeru especially, in Olympic trap. And of course, I want the best for her and for the rest of the team going into the World Championships. So depending on how the next few weeks go, and I’m hoping that, as I said, she can decompress from this incredible, this enormous feat, then we’ll go hard for Doha, for the World Champs.”
For Dhanda, the Asian Games title is another landmark in a breakthrough year. For Wilson and the Indian shooting setup, it is also evidence of what the shooter can produce when preparation is disrupted but composure remains intact.
