National Games champion Neeru Dhanda reached her first-ever ISSF World Cup final, finishing a commendable fourth in the women’s trap event on the penultimate day of the fourth and final stage of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup, currently underway in Lonato, Italy. She hit 30 out of her first 35 targets in the 50-shot final.
Neeru secured the sixth and final qualifying spot by winning a shoot-off (2-1) against Italy’s Alessia Iezzi, last year’s World Cup Final winner in New Delhi. In the final, she was eventually eliminated due to a higher bib number after tying with bronze medalist Lada Denisova of the Neutral Athletes (AIN) — winner of the Nicosia World Cup stage — and Italy’s Silvana Maria Stanco, a silver medalist at the Paris Olympics. Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan claimed gold with 45 hits.
Earlier on Saturday at the renowned Trap Concaverde range, Neeru shot rounds of 25 and 24, adding to her overnight score of 66 (21, 23, 22) for a total of 115 — the same score as Iezzi.
Preeti Rajak (114) also showed strong form, shooting 23 and 25 to add to her overnight 66 (20, 24, 22), but missed the final by one point and finished eighth. Pragati Dubey, with rounds of 18, 18, 21, 19, and 24, ended with a total of 100.
In the men’s trap event, veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu (24, 25, 24, 24, 24) dropped just one target in each of his last two rounds, finishing with 121. He entered a five-way shoot-off that included at least two former Olympic champions for the final two qualification spots, but was the first to be eliminated after missing his second shot.
Zoravar’s teammates Lakshay Sheoran (24, 22, 24, 23, 23) and Jaswinder Singh (23, 24, 22, 23, 24) both tallied 116, placing them further down the leaderboard. On Sunday, two Indian pairs will compete in the Trap Mixed Team Olympic event.