Neeru Dhanda & Kynan Chenai secure 3rd shooting gold for India at Asian Games 2026
The pair shot 34 points to beat Qatar and China, giving India its ninth gold of the Asian Games 2026.
Indian shooters added another gold on Wednesday, September 30. Neeru Dhanda and Kynan Chenai won the trap mixed team event at the Asian Games 2026.
The pair finished on 34 points, a new Games record. The previous record stood at 30, set by Qatar earlier this year. Qatar took silver with 32 points, and China got bronze with 23. This is India’s first gold in this event at the Asian Games.
The victory was built progressively, with India scoring six points after the opening series before moving to 16 after the second. By the third series, the total was 26, and a final push took it to 34.
Chenai, 35, is from Hyderabad and finished 19th in trap at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He also won team gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, making this his second Asiad gold medal.
Neeru’s week has been remarkable. On September 29, she won the women’s individual trap gold, becoming the first Indian woman to win that title at the Asian Games.
How did Neeru build her 3-medal run?
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Neeru scored 26 points in the final, finishing ahead of China’s Sun Yunong and Kuwait’s Hajar Abdulmalik, who both managed 21. Qatar’s Ray Bassil finished fourth with 16 points. In qualifying, Dhanda hit 28 of 30 targets, an Asian record.
The same day, she won silver in the women’s trap team event with Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer. India scored 328, behind China’s 346 and ahead of Kuwait’s 325. Neeru contributed 118 of 125 points. With the mixed gold, she now has three medals: gold, silver and gold.
The result lifts India’s overall count to 56 medals — 9 gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze. This was India’s third gold of the day. Shooters alone have won 15 medals, including three gold, eight silver and four bronze.
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Other Indians also did well on Wednesday. The women’s compound archery team of Jyothi Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep beat China 238-234 for gold.
Chikitha and Sahil Jadhav also won mixed team gold and secured a Los Angeles Olympic 2028 quota. In boxing, Priya Ghanghas secured a bronze after losing her 60kg semi-final to China’s Yang Chengyu.
What did Neeru Dhanda and Kynan Chenai score to win the mixed trap team gold?
They finished on 34 points, a new Games record that beat the earlier mark of 30 set by Qatar. Qatar won silver with 32 points, and China took bronze with 23. India’s total grew from six points after the first series to 16 after the second and 26 after the third. It is India’s first Asian Games gold in this event.
How many medals has Neeru Dhanda won at the Asian Games 2026?
She has won three so far: gold in the women’s individual trap, silver in the women’s trap team event with Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer, and now gold in the mixed team event with Chenai. She became the first Indian woman to win individual trap gold at the Asian Games, and she set an Asian record in qualifying by hitting 28 of 30 targets.
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