In Brief
- Jay Meena became the first Indian athlete to win an Asian Games medal in soft tennis.
- Meena lost 2–4 (3–5, 1–4, 1–4, 4–1, 6–4, 1–4) against Japan's Takuya Kurosaka at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center.
- Meena guaranteed his podium finish by defeating the Philippines' Sherwin Nuguit 4–3 in the quarter-finals.
Soft tennis player Jay Meena earned a bronze medal in the men's singles competition at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on September 23, 2026. Meena advanced to the semi-finals after overcoming a 3–5 deficit in the deciding game of his quarter-final match against the Philippines' Sherwin Nuguit, winning four consecutive points to close out a 4–3 victory. In the semi-final against Japan's Takuya Kurosaka, the 26-year-old lost the opening three sets before taking the fourth and fifth sets, ultimately succumbing 2–4. Both losing semi-finalists received bronze medals without a playoff match.
The result marks India's inaugural Asian Games podium finish in soft tennis, a sport featured on the Asian Games medal program since Hiroshima 1994. Meena, who previously represented India at the 2018 Jakarta and 2022 Hangzhou Games, entered the 2026 tournament as the 2025 Indian national champion in men's singles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued an official statement congratulating Meena for establishing India's first medal in the discipline.
