How Neeru Dhanda beat ‘bib jinx’ to win India’s first women’s trap gold
When Neeru Dhanda lined up for the women’s trap final at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy, she had already accomplished one of her goals. Her aim was to earn a higher bib number than she had in her previous two finals at the ISSF World Cups. On Saturday, the Naib Subedar from Jind, Haryana, did much more than that when she became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold medal in the women’s trap event at the World Cup. “In the last two World Cups, I missed out on a medal because of the bib number rule. Every time I got a smaller bib number. Last time too, I finished fourth. This time, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. No excuses,” Neeru told The Bridge from Italy on Sunday. “My coach was also very excited because I topped the qualification and then performed well in the final despite competing against Olympic medallists and world champions,” she added. Neeru topped the qualification with 121 out of a possible 125 …