India’s shooting slide at the Asian Games and what it reveals

Neeru Dhanda’s historic trap gold stood out in an otherwise underwhelming Asian Games shooting campaign, exposing deeper concerns in India’s rifle and pistol programmes.

Updated : Oct 06, 2026 14:50 IST , CHENNAI - 5 MINS READ

Neeru’s triumph is part of a 15-medal haul — three gold, eight silver and four bronze — that left India second only to China, with 28, on the shooting medal table. Yet the numbers tell only part of the story. Three years after a record 22 medals in Hangzhou, the decline was stark. | Photo Credit: PTI

In an Asian Games, where the overarching storyline from the shooting galleries was one of underwhelming returns, Haryana’s Neeru Dhanda single-handedly rewrote the narrative.

Her gold ended India’s 48-year wait for an individual trap title, with the previous one won by the late Randhir Singh.

Neeru’s triumph is part of a 15-medal haul — three gold, eight silver and four bronze — that left India second only to China, with 28, on the shooting medal table. Yet the numbers tell only part of the story. Three years after a record 22 medals in Hangzhou, the decline was stark.

The most glaring drop came in gold medals: India had won seven in the previous edition, five of them in ‘team’ events. According to the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) general regulation 3.3.2.3, these events are meant for “three (3) members of the same gender” which award medals based on the sum total of the scores of each of the participating shooters in the individual qualification round.

This time, India couldn’t win a single ‘team’ gold. That these events are not on the Olympic programme is a fair argument, but the inability to convert opportunities does expose a worrying loss of depth. The silver and bronze medals helped keep the overall tally respectable.

The disappointment was particularly pronounced in rifle and pistol, the two disciplines that have traditionally supplied India with a steady stream of elite performers. India had only four individual medals from non-shotgun events: Elavenil Valarivan’s silver in 10m air rifle, Rudrankksh Patil’s bronze and Himanshu Singh’s silver in the same event, and Esha Singh’s silver in 25m sports pistol.

Moreover, a handful of household names never made the podium. Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, who could have won a maximum of four medals, returned without one. Suruchi Singh, one of the revelations of Indian shooting in recent years, also failed to medal individually. She managed to salvage her campaign with a mixed-team gold medal, this edition’s first, alongside Kamaljeet Singh.

Perhaps it was the agony of falling short elsewhere that made Neeru’s campaign stand out even more. That she managed to pull it off even after being hospitalised in Bhopal for three days with suspected H1N1 before flying out to Japan made her campaign all the more memorable.

Her 28 out of 30 in the individual trap final became the new Games record before a mixed-team gold came along when she teamed up with Kynan Chenai. She returned from Aichi-Nagoya with two gold medals and a silver from the trap women’s team, becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual Asiad gold in a shotgun event.

Neeru may have done the heavy lifting at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery, but there are questions unanswered. The contentious selection process may be the biggest of them all.

It is understood that the country’s quota had been capped at 30, six fewer than usual, forcing a few difficult selections. Shooters capable of competing in multiple events were preferred over specialists to maximise India’s entries, while recent form was assessed through the National Rifle Association of India’s (NRAI) Moving Average Method (MAM).

Under the MAM, a shooter’s four best qualification scores at recognised competitions held within a 180-day window are averaged to determine their ranking and eligibility for representation. Additional ancillary points are awarded for reaching a final.

The system, however, carries an inherent risk. The window will always favour shooters who peak at the right moment, while potentially undervaluing those with a proven record of delivering at major championships. At an Asian Games, where experience under pressure can be decisive, that distinction matters.

The omission of established names such as Paris Olympic medallists Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh, former world champion Samrat Rana, and Hangzhou gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra proved that experience and potential can’t be treated as mutually exclusive. There is a case for a provision that guarantees a place in the squad for shooters who have reached a defined level of international success for a set period of time.

There are, of course, positives. Despite everything, it is a sizeable haul, and the emergence of a few new names gives the sport a foundation to build on. But for a programme that has expanded its depth and ambition over the past decade, merely maintaining a respectable medal count cannot be the benchmark.

India needs its rifle and pistol shooters back among the principal protagonists, while also ensuring Neeru’s triumph isn’t a shotgun outlier. With less than two years to go for LA2028, the NRAI must prioritise addressing the gaps.