ISSF World Cup Lonato: Neeru Dhanda finishes fourth in women's trap

National Games champion Neeru Dhanda secured an impressive fourth place in the women’s trap event during her debut final at the ISSF World Cup on the penultimate day of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun stage, in Lonato, Italy.

After having taken the sixth and final qualifying spot by winning (2-1) a shoot-off over last year’s New Delhi World Cup Final winner Alessia Iezzi (Italy), Neeru eventually went out due to a higher bib number.

In the final, she was tied with Nicosia World Cup stage winner Lada Denisova of the Neutral Athletes (AIN) and Paris Olympics silver medalist Silvana Maria Stanco (Italy) after hitting 30 out of her first 35 targets. Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan won gold with 45 hits.

Earlier on Saturday, Neeru shot rounds of 25 and 24 to add to her 66 (21, 23, 22) overnight, for a tally of 115, the same score as Iezzi’s.

Preeti Rajak (114) also recovered well on the day with rounds of 23 and 25 to add to her 66 (20, 24, 22), but fell short by one to finish eighth. Pragati Dubey (18, 18, 21, 19, 24) was further back with exactly 100.

In the men’s trap, veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu (24, 25, 24, 24, 24) dropped one bird each in his final two qualifying rounds for a tally of 121, putting him in a five-way shoot-off with at least two former Olympic champions, for the final two slots. He was the first to bow out, missing his second shot.

Zoravar’s teammates, Lakshay Sheoran (24, 22, 24, 23, 23) and Jaswinder Singh (23, 24, 22, 23, 24) had tallies of 116 each to finish further down the leaderboard.

On Sunday, two Indian pairs were in action in the Trap Mixed team event.

The pair of Lakshay Sheoran (22, 19, 25) and Neeru Dhanda (25, 24, 25) totaled 140 out of a possible 150 in the qualifying round to finish 10th among 54 pairs. Meanwhile, the second Indian pair of Zoravar Singh Sandhu (21, 23, 24) and Preeti Rajak (23, 24, 23) combined for a tally of 138 to finish in 22nd spot.