Three days and a handful of near misses later, India added a fifth gold medal to its tally at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday.
Neeru Dhanda won the women's individual trap gold, becoming the first individual first-place finisher in the event in the history of the Games.
The 26-year-old from Haryana set a new continental record with a score of 28, surpassing the previous Asian record of 24.
Neeru had won the World Cup trap gold in July this year.
Shooters contributed two of the five gold medals India have secured so far. Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet won gold in the 10 m air pistol mixed team event. That was on Friday, three days after India opened the gold-medal hunt through the women's cricket team.
India added a couple of gold medals on the weekend, thanks to the Kabaddi men and women teams.
Four near misses
However, the search for a fifth gold dragged on, with at least four others coming agonisingly close to turning their silver into the yellow metal.
Esha Singh probably came the closest as she lost the gold to China's Xiao Jiaruixuan in the women's 25 m pistol event by one shot.
On Monday, long jumpers Ancy Sojan and M Sreeshankar had to settle for silver. Ancy had been in the gold-medal position till the last jump, while Sreeshankar could not attempt his last two jumps due to an injury.
High Jumper Sarvesh Kushare too had a narrow miss as, despite clearing the same height of 2.25 m as Fu Chao-hsuan, Kushare was placed second because he took one attempt more than the Chinese Taipei athlete.
What makes Neeru's gold special
Before Neeru, India won two gold medals in Asian Games trap shooting, but both were secured by men.
In 1978, Randhir Singh won India's first individual gold in trap shooting, while Ronjan Sodhi claimed gold in the men's double trap event at the 2010 Games.
Neeru had secured silver in the women's trap team event, partnering Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer. The Indian team finished with a combined total of 328 to settle behind China (346).