Jay Meena Makes History for Indian Soft Tennis at Asian Games
Jay Meena dragged Indian soft tennis out of the shadows and straight into the history books in Nagoya.
On a tense Wednesday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, the 33-year-old battled through a nerve-shredding quarter-final to become the first Indian ever to secure an Asian Games medal in the sport, reaching the men’s singles semi-finals and guaranteeing himself at least a bronze.
A seven-game epic
Facing the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit, Meena’s route to history was anything but smooth. The match swung wildly, a seven-game arm-wrestle that ended 4-3 in the Indian’s favour and left both players drained.
The scoreline told its own story: 0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5.
Meena started poorly, swept aside in the opening game as Nuguit settled faster and dictated the tempo. Then came the response. The Indian clawed his way back in the second, then found himself constantly chasing as the Filipino kept landing blows.
Every time Meena levelled the tone of the contest changed again. At 2-2, the rallies grew longer, the tension sharper. At 3-3, it was about nerve as much as skill.
The decider was a scrap. Nuguit pushed, Meena refused to blink. The Indian edged the crucial points, dragged the momentum his way and finally closed it out 7-5 to book his place in the last four.
A third Asian Games appearance. A first medal. A landmark for Indian soft tennis.
Years of waiting, one breakthrough
Meena had been here before, but never like this. He featured at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games without a podium finish, carrying the hopes of a niche sport that rarely gets the spotlight in India.
This time, he arrived in Nagoya with quiet intent and quickly found his rhythm. In the men’s singles Group D, he brushed aside Pakistan’s Arain Hussain 4-0 to reach the quarter-finals, a result that hinted at something bigger brewing.
The Nuguit match confirmed it. With the 4-3 win, Meena did more than just extend his stay in the draw. He broke new ground for his country, ensuring India will finally appear on the Asian Games soft tennis medal table.
Now comes the next question: can he turn this historic step into a shot at gold? The semi-finals will offer that chance.
Bronze on the range
While Meena was carving out history on the soft tennis court, India’s shooters kept the medal tally ticking.
In the women’s skeet team event, Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan combined for 331 to clinch bronze. Raiza and Parinaaz were locked together with 111 each out of 125, Maheshwari adding 109 to seal the podium finish.
China dominated the event with a gold-winning total of 346, Kazakhstan taking silver, but India’s trio held their composure to secure another shooting medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Bhaker in the hunt again
On the pistol range, Manu Bhaker moved into yet another major final.
The two-time Olympic medallist produced a strong qualification performance to advance to the women’s 10m air pistol individual final, once again placing herself in the thick of a medal fight at a major multi-sport event.
Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh, also in the fray for India, fell short of the final, unable to match Bhaker’s precision on the day.
For India, the storyline out of Nagoya is layered: a familiar contender in Bhaker chasing more silverware, the shooting team adding steady returns, and, above all, Jay Meena dragging an almost-forgotten discipline into the Asian Games spotlight.
The next time he walks onto court, it will not just be for himself. It will be for a first medal already secured—and the possibility of rewriting Indian soft tennis history all over again.
