Some champions are born with every advantage. Neeru Dhanda was not one of them, and in fact, she is one of those people who start with almost nothing but still move forward through hard work.Neeru Dhanda, who won gold in shotgun at the Asian Games in Japan, comes from a farming family in Haryana’s Jind, where her father works the land. Her home receives commodities using a BPL card.Neeru’s journey to winning Gold has been nothing short of an ordinary journey, as she did not have a gun of her own, learned with a borrowed one, aiming at makeshift targets and holding on to a big dream.
Meet Neeru Dhanda, the daughter of a farmer who practised with a borrowed gun and went to win gold at the Asian Games.
The 26-year-old Neeru Dhanda became the first Indian woman to win an individual shotgun gold at the Asian Games. She took the women’s trap title in Nagoya, Japan, with a Games-record score of 28 out of 30.But her story did not begin in Japan, the beginnings go back to, a pond in Bhopal and a cousin’s constant encouragement, according to her father, who told ANI, about her using a borrowed gun.She started with a simple dunaali, a side-by-side double-barrel shotgun that her family owned, and she shot at tin cans and makeshift targets. Her father is a farmer, and farmers often keep guns like this to protect their crops; apart from that, she also practised with a borrowed gun from her cousin’s father, who owned one.In all, she grew up without the things that usually make competitive shooting possible. Trap shooting needs expensive equipment, ammunition, regular time at a range, and steady coaching. For many young shooters, talent alone is not enough.
But Neeru found a way in.
Neeru did not lose hope by banking on her cousin, hard work, and talentHer cousin Lakshya Sheoran, who went on to win an Asian Games medal, began doing well in trap shooting. Watching him, she decided to start practising and later trained in shooting academies in New Delhi and Bhopal. She is now a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army and trains at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow.The dunaali, which she began practising with, is also very different from the guns used in competition. Sporting shotguns usually have over-and-under barrels and other features made for the sport, and a regular civilian shotgun doesn’t have them.Those casual shots at tin cans eventually led her to the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) Shotgun World Cup in Lonato del Garda, Italy. There she became the first Indian woman to win a World Cup gold in the event. Now she has added two Asian Games gold medals to that journey.
Neeru’s path was never straight
Even the road to Nagoya was hard. The profile says she fell ill before the Games, had little time to practise at the national camp in New Delhi, and reached Japan two days late.After her Asian Games win, PTI quoted her saying, “It was not easy, but I made it easy.” She hopes young trap shooters in India will see her and feel they can do it too.
She belongs to a humble family
Her mother, Sudesh Devi, heard the news in the most ordinary way. As per reports, she was heading to the village ration shop with a BPL card in her hand when the phone rang, and she collected the ration and rushed home. “I still couldn’t believe she won gold,” she said. The news had reached her through an unknown caller on an old keypad phone.
