Neeru Dhanda (Image credit: PTI)

NEW DELHI: Neeru Dhanda does not need to be aggressive to show her competitive side. “Look into her eyes,” says Mansher Singh, her coach of seven years.The 25-year-old shooter on Tuesday became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games gold in trap, following her World Cup triumph in Italy in July. For Mansher, who has watched Neeru develop since she was 18, the performance was another expression of a quality he has seen throughout her career.“She has a lot of fire in her belly. If in the final, she will go all guns blazing and that’s what she did,” Mansher told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.Neeru shot 28 in the final in Aichi-Nagoya, surpassing the previous Asian record of 24. She had earlier won a silver medal in the women’s trap team event at the Games.The Asian Games gold came less than three months after Neeru became the first Indian woman to win an individual World Cup gold in trap, at the Shotgun World Cup in Italy. At Aichi-Nagoya, after the individual gold, she claimed her second gold in the mixed team events to add to the silver she clicnhed in the women’s team trap event.“She is not aggressive at all. If you want to see the aggression, look into her eyes,” Mansher said.“I’m just proud and happy that she’s got what she deserves because she’s very hardworking and very determined to be successful and, more importantly, to achieve. She has achieved things which have not happened in the past.”

‘Winning the World Cup and Asian Games in the same year is incredible’

Mansher believes the back-to-back titles have changed the conversation around his student.“So she wants to go to new heights, and this is exactly what she’s doing now. She’s won the last two big competitions. She’ll be the first Indian woman to do this, you know. So, winning the World Cup and Asian Games in the same year, almost back to back, is incredible,” he said.Neeru’s rise has also been accompanied by a change in the way she handles the pressure around her.

Neeru Dhanda and Mansher Singh (Image credit: Special arrangement)

“She used to fight with me a lot. Then I would say, ‘I’m like your father.’ Then she would say, ‘Yes, I can’t fight with my father.’ Then she would come back to normal,” Mansher recalled.“But she was an emotional person. She’s much more mature now. She’s able to take her decisions and think about the consequences.”The coach was also closely involved when Neeru fell ill shortly before the Asian Games.She was admitted to PSRI Hospital in Chirag Delhi after a viral fever did not improve with medication. Even while on the hospital bed, Mansher said, Neeru remained focused on the competition ahead.“Sir, medal lana hai desh ke liye. This is all she had been saying while on the hospital bed. I was just happy and worried at the same time,” he recalled.Neeru was discharged and travelled to Japan without much time to recover.Mansher’s message to her before she left was simple.“You should be happy that God has blessed you with the opportunity to go after being so sick for eight days that you were in hospital. Enjoy yourself and celebrate,” he told her.

‘The Olympic medal is the first thing’

With the World Cup and Asian Games titles now secured in the same year, attention will turn to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.India’s last Olympic shotgun medal came through Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won silver in men’s double trap at Athens 2004. Since then, India have not won an Olympic medal in shotgun.Mansher, who represented India at four Olympics – Los Angeles 1984, Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 – said the Olympic target has long been part of their conversations.“I think we don’t have to worry about that. She’s very centred. She knows that’s her goal. She’s not going to take a gold medal at the World Cup and at the Asian Games and make it so big that she loses sight of her ultimate goal,” Mansher said.“And it’s always been a conversation amongst us that, you know, the Olympic medal is the first thing. The Olympics are the first and last thing in this sport.”For Mansher, the two gold medals have provided something more useful than simply another set of titles.“But overall, there’s proof enough to say that you are definitely in that league or in that conversation to be a medalist at the Olympics,” he said.