Neeru Dhanda takes women''s trap gold in National Shooting

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Asian Championships gold medallist Neeru Dhanda braved chilly weather to deliver a composed performance on way to clinching the women's trap gold medal in the National Shooting Championship at the Karni Singh Range here on Monday.

The 25-year-old shooter, who took the top-podium spot in the continental showpiece in Kazakhstan recently, finished on top with 41 hits in the final.

She held off a strong challenge from Delhi's Kirti Gupta, who settled for silver with 40. Neeru's state team-mate from Madhya Pradesh, Pragati Dubey claimed the bronze 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) and Kirti Gupta (111) rounded off the top six. In the final, Delhi shooter Addya finished fourth with 27, followed by Preeti (21) and Rajeshwari (17).

In junior men's trap, Aryavansh Tyagi rose to the occasion, shooting 42 to win the gold. Punjab's Keshav Chauhan took silver with 37, while Uttar Pradesh's Zuhair Khan claimed the bronze with 30.

Zuhair had earlier dominated the qualification round with a score of 120, ahead of Aryan Singh's 118, who finished the final in fifth place with 21 hits. Aryavansh shot 115 to make the final.

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

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

Delhi claimed gold in 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. PTI AM AM ATK