Union Labour and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday, 12 July 2026 congratulated shooter Neeru on winning the Women's Trap Gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy, calling it a proud moment for Indian shooting. Mandaviya described the achievement as historic, noting that Neeru has become the first Indian woman trap shooter to win a World Cup Gold medal.

Context

Posting on X, the Minister wrote: 'Congratulations to Neeru on her historic Women's Trap Gold at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy. She has etched her name in history as the first Indian woman trap shooter to win a World Cup Gold medal.' The milestone marks a breakthrough for India's shotgun shooting programme, which has historically trailed behind the country's stronger rifle and pistol disciplines on the international stage.

Lonato, a lakeside town in northern Italy, is one of the premier venues on the ISSF calendar and regularly hosts elite trap and skeet competitions. A World Cup Gold at this venue carries significant weight in the global shooting community.

Policy Backdrop

India's investment in shooting has grown steadily over the past decade, supported in part by the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), launched in 2014, which provides financial and logistical backing to identified athletes competing at top international events. The scheme has helped shooters access world-class coaching, equipment, and competitive exposure abroad.

Government support has increasingly extended beyond traditional rifle and pistol categories into shotgun disciplines — trap and skeet — as India eyes stronger performances at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Neeru's Gold underlines that this broader investment is beginning to yield results in disciplines where India had previously not broken through at the World Cup level.

Stakeholders and Impact

The win is significant for women athletes in Indian shooting, a sport that has seen growing female participation at the elite level in recent years. A first-ever World Cup Gold in Women's Trap raises the profile of the event within the country's shooting ecosystem and is likely to encourage more young women to take up the shotgun discipline.

For the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and the Sports Ministry, the result provides validation for the targeted support extended to shotgun shooters ahead of upcoming continental and world championships. Selection trials and ranking points from World Cup stages such as Lonato are critical inputs for India's international team composition.

What's Next

India's shooting contingent will look to build on this momentum across the remaining 2026 ISSF World Cup stages. Strong performances in these events feed directly into world rankings and qualification pathways for major championships. With Los Angeles 2028 on the horizon, consistent World Cup results in all three shotgun formats — trap, double trap, and skeet — will be essential for India to secure Olympic quota places and podium ambitions.

Neeru's historic Gold sets a new benchmark for Indian women in shotgun shooting and adds pressure — in a positive sense — on the broader squad to match and surpass this standard on the world stage.