Neeru Dhanda and Kynan Chenai win trap mixed team gold, set Games record at Asian Games 2026

Neeru Dhanda and Kynan Chenai won the trap mixed team event at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, September 30, securing a gold medal for India with a new Games record of 34 points.

The pair’s 34-point total surpassed the previous Games mark of 30 set by Qatar earlier this year; Qatar took silver with 32 points and China claimed bronze with 23. This is India’s first Asian Games gold in the trap mixed team event.

India’s scoring built steadily across the match: six points after the opening series, 16 after the second, 26 following the third, and a final push to 34 that sealed the victory.

Kynan Chenai, 35, from Hyderabad, finished 19th in the trap at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was part of the team that won gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, making this his second Asiad gold medal.

Neeru Dhanda had claimed the women’s individual trap gold on September 29, becoming the first Indian woman to win that title at the Asian Games after scoring 26 in the final; China’s Sun Yunong and Kuwait’s Hajar Abdulmalik both finished on 21, and Qatar’s Ray Bassil was fourth with 16. In qualifying for the individual event Dhanda hit 28 of 30 targets, an Asian record.

On the same day Dhanda also won silver in the women’s trap team event alongside Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer as India scored 328, behind China’s 346 and ahead of Kuwait’s 325, with Dhanda contributing 118 of 125 points. With the mixed-team gold she now has three medals at these Games: gold (women’s individual trap), silver (women’s trap team) and gold (trap mixed team).

Other Indian successes on Wednesday included the women’s compound archery team of Jyothi Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep beating China 238-234 for gold; Chikitha and Sahil Jadhav also won mixed team gold and secured a Los Angeles 2028 Olympic quota. In boxing, Priya Ghanghas earned a bronze after losing her 60kg semi-final to China’s Yang Chengyu.

The mixed-team triumph lifted India’s overall tally to 56 medals — 9 gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze — and marked India’s third gold of the day; shooters have now won 15 medals at the Games, including three gold, eight silver and four bronze.