India’s soft tennis story finally has a medal to show for it, and Jay Meena is the man who wrote it. The 26-year-old from Rajasthan clinched India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport after a nerve-wracking quarterfinal win at the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Games in Japan, ending a decades-long wait for the country in a discipline that has long struggled for recognition back home.
A Quarterfinal Battle That Sealed the Medal
JAY MEENA CREATES HISTORY FOR INDIA 🇮🇳
— The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) September 23, 2026
– He becomes the first Indian ever to win a Soft Tennis medal at the Asian Games! 🥉
THIS IS HISTORIC RESULT FOLKS!!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fErlt3RpKA
Meena’s path to history ran through a gritty seven-game contest against the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit. The Indian dropped the opening game but clawed his way back, eventually closing out the match 4-3 with a final scoreline of 0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5. Because every semi-finalist in the men’s singles soft tennis draw is guaranteed a podium finish, that victory alone was enough to confirm India’s maiden medal in the sport at the Asian Games — a landmark that had eluded the country across previous editions, including a heartbreaking quarterfinal exit for Meena himself at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
From Near-Miss in Hangzhou to Breakthrough in Nagoya
This is not Meena’s first brush with history. He was the player who came agonizingly close to a medal at the 2022 Asian Games, falling in the quarterfinals to eventual silver medallist Chang Yu-sung of Chinese Taipei. He bounced back to help India claim its first-ever World Soft Tennis Championships medal in 2024, teaming up with Aadhya Tiwari for mixed doubles bronze, and followed it up in 2025 by becoming the first Indian to win an individual medal at the Asian Soft Tennis Championships. Aichi-Nagoya 2026 marks the moment all of that build-up converted into an Asian Games podium finish, with Meena going on to compete in the semi-finals for a shot at gold.
What the Medal Means for Indian Soft Tennis
Soft tennis remains a niche sport in India, played with a softer rubber ball and different racquet specifications from lawn tennis, and it has rarely commanded mainstream attention or funding. Meena’s achievement changes that conversation, giving the sport its first genuine Asian Games success story and a face for future recognition and investment. His run in Nagoya, following closely on India’s men’s team quarterfinal exit to Indonesia earlier in the Games, shows a program that is steadily narrowing the gap with the continent’s traditional soft tennis powers such as Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and Japan.