Asian Games 2026: Jay Meena wins India's first-ever soft tennis medal

Jay Meena secured India's first ever soft tennis medal at the Asian Games, fetching a bronze after losing to Japan's Takuya Kurosaka in the men's singles semifinals on Wednesday.

Playing in his third Asian Games, the 26-year-old Meena produced a spirited fightback after falling three games behind but could not sustain the momentum, losing 2-4 (3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4) to Kurosaka in the 45-minute clash.

Meena, who hails from Madhya Pradesh's Dewas and is a 2022 National Games gold-medallist, struggled to find his rhythm early on as Kurosaka established an advantage, winning the first two games 5-3 and 4-1.

The Japanese player then moved further ahead by taking the third game 4-1, leaving Meena with little margin for error.

With his medal assured but a place in the final at stake, Meena mounted a strong fightback.

He responded by taking the fourth game 4-1 and followed it up by edging a closely-contested fifth game 6-4 to reduce the deficit and keep his hopes of completing a remarkable comeback alive.

However, Kurosaka regrouped in the sixth game and closed out the contest 4-1 to book his place in the final, while Meena had to settle for the bronze.

Earlier in the day, Meena had reached the semifinals after seeing off the Philippines' Sherwin Nuguit 4-3 (0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 4-2, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5) in a fiercely contested quarterfinal.

Meena had also participated in the 2018 and 2022 editions of the Asian Games.

He had earlier defeated Pakistan's Arain Hussain 4-0 in Group D to qualify for the quarterfinals. Meena previously won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event of the 2024 World Soft Tennis Championship.

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