No TV, standing for ration: How Neeru Dhanda's mom missed her Asian Games triumph

Neeru Dhanda revealed the entire story behind how her mother missed her historic moment at the Asian Games, where she won gold. The Indian shooting sensation said that her mother couldn’t access the TV and had to stand in line at the ration shop while she was edging closer to the win.

Neeru etched her name in Indian shooting history at the age of 26, returning from the Asian Games with two gold medals. Her biggest breakthrough came on September 30, when she became the first Indian woman to claim an individual gold medal in trap shooting at the Asian Games. The very next day she also added the mixed team gold to her collection.

She ended her campaign with a silver in the women’s team event, capping off a sensational campaign. However, it was her individual medal win that her mother was unable to follow.

While speaking on AajTak’s Panchayat Punjab and Haryana, the 26-year-old explained how the story unfolded. Neeru said she did speak to her mother a day before her medal win but her mother was concerned about her health. Neeru was severly hit by a H1N1 infection right before the games.

“There is a BPL card in Haryana, and all the members of the family are given ration. So my mother had gone there to collect it,” Neeru recalled with a smile.

“The day before that, I spoke to her at around 3:30 pm in India, and I had also been ill for several days at that time. I had got this infection that was going around in Delhi. About a week before going there, my face had completely swollen up, and my neck had also swollen up. So I didn’t really get any time to train.”

“So when we spoke the day before, my mother was very worried about what would happen. Then I told her, “Everything will be fine. We have come this far, so the same will happen going forward.”

‘MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO USE SMARTPHONE’

Neeru said that her mother was unaware of her gold medal hunt as they don’t have a TV at home, and her mother doesn’t know how to operate a smartphone.

“My mother didn’t know when I was playing. She wasn’t watching it on TV. We don’t have a TV at home. My mother has a small phone, a keypad phone.”

“I had given her a smartphone, but she doesn’t know how to use it. I had tried once or twice to teach her, but she doesn’t know how to operate it,” said Neeru.

The Indian shooter then urged her mom to go to a neighbour’s house and see if she could watch it there. But that plan also failed and her mother decided to carry on with her daily work.

“Then I called her and told her to go and watch it at a neighbour’s place if someone had it. She tried that as well, but she still couldn’t find anyone.

“So, I was playing and she was doing her household work and had gone to collect the ration. At the same time, I was going to win my medal,” said Neeru.

During the session, Neeru also revealed that it was her mother who was the driving force behind her taking up the sport.

“My mother was very strong in making the decision that I had to do shooting. She completely supported me and helped me leave home, telling me, ‘You do it, I will handle everything,'” said Neeru.

The Indian shooter ended by saying that she will get a TV at home so her parents get to see her perform.

– Ends