Jay Meena Secures Historic Asian Games Medal for India in Soft Tennis
Jay Meena dragged Indian soft tennis into uncharted territory in Nagoya, fighting through a seven-game epic on Wednesday to secure the country’s first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport.
The 33-year-old, playing his third Asian Games, outlasted the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit 4-3 in a quarter-final that swung violently from one end to the other and back again. The scoreline told its own story: 0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5.
It was chaos. It was history.
Meena looked in real trouble early on, slow out of the blocks and punished for it. Nuguit seized the opening game 4-0 and looked the sharper, more assertive player. But the Indian refused to fold. He clawed his way into the contest, adjusted his rhythm, and began to chip away at the Filipino’s lead, taking the second game 4-2 to steady himself.
From there, it turned into a test of nerve.
The third and fifth games went Nuguit’s way, each time tilting the match back towards the Philippines. Each time Meena answered. He dragged himself through a tight 5-3 fourth game to stay alive, then survived another setback when Nuguit edged the fifth. The pressure built, point by point, game by game.
At 2-4 down in games, Meena had no more room for error. He dug in.
The sixth game became the turning point. Meena forced the pace, held his ground in the rallies and edged it 7-5, snatching back momentum and belief. By then, every point felt like a mini-final. Nuguit pushed, Meena pushed harder. When the final point was won, the 4-3 scoreline did more than just send him into the semi-finals. It guaranteed India a place on the Asian Games soft tennis podium for the first time.
This was not a bolt from the blue. Meena’s campaign had been building to this moment.
Earlier in the men’s singles Group D, he had brushed aside Pakistan’s Arain Hussain 4-0 to secure his passage to the knockouts. That dominant win underlined his form; the quarter-final showed his resilience. Having represented India at the 2018 and 2022 editions, he now finally has a medal to show for years of persistence in a sport that rarely finds the spotlight back home.
Next comes the semi-final, and with it the chance to go one step further and fight for gold. Whatever happens, the barrier is broken. India will not leave Nagoya empty-handed in soft tennis.
On a busy day for the Indian contingent, shooting added its familiar gleam to the medal tally.
In the women’s skeet team event, Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan combined for a bronze medal with a total of 331. Raiza and Parinaaz both shot 111 out of 125, while Maheshwari’s 109 completed the score. China took gold with a commanding 346, Kazakhstan claimed silver, and India stood on the third step of the podium with another solid return from the range.
The shooting hall produced more Indian intrigue.
Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker advanced to the women’s 10m air pistol individual final after a strong qualification series that kept her comfortably in the hunt for medals. She will carry India’s hopes into the decisive round, even as fellow shooters Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh fell short of the cut and missed out on the final.
Between Meena’s breakthrough on the soft tennis courts and the shooters’ steady stream of medals, India’s campaign in Aichi-Nagoya found both a new frontier and a familiar strength. Now the question is simple: how far can this wave run before the Games are done?
