India, Sept. 29 -- A borrowed gun, a pond in Bhopal and a cousin who refused to let her give up - the unlikely ingredients that set Neeru Dhanda on her shooting journey seven years ago have now taken her to the top of the Asian Games podium.

On Tuesday, the 26-year-old became the first Indian woman to win an individual shotgun gold at the continental showpiece, claiming the women's trap title with a Games record.

For a farmer's daughter from Jind, Haryana, the road to that historic triumph was far removed from the conventional path to elite sport.

Neeru had barely six months of shooting experience when she moved to Bhopal in 2019. There, the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy provided free guns and ammunition, giving her an opportun...