Asian Games: Dreamed of becoming a cricketer, Jay Meena makes soft tennis history
Jay Meena once envisioned a different sporting life. As a small boy growing up in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, Meena wanted to become a cricketer. Soft tennis was not part of the plan. In fact, when he first encountered the sport at Pioneer Public School, he was just curious enough to stop and watch.
Then he became a ball boy.
Somewhere between getting the balls and watching the players on the pitch, curiosity turned into interest. Interest turned into a game. And the game eventually became a career.
Asian Games Day 4 Update
On Wednesday, this unlikely journey reached its biggest milestone yet. Meena became the first Indian to win a medal in soft tennis at the Asian Games after reaching the men’s singles semi-finals in 2026.
The 24-year-old secured the historic medal by fighting through a thrilling quarter-final against Filipino Nuguito Sherwin. Meena had to recover from a rough start, losing the opening game 0-4 before responding with a 4-2 win in the second.
He slipped again on the next play, but refused to let the game slip away. Two consecutive wins put him up 3-2, giving him the opportunity to close out the contest. However, Nuguit forced the game on and won the sixth game 4-2.
The quarter-finals thus went to a seven-point tie-break, where Meena once again found himself under pressure. He finished 3-5 and was staring at another torturous exit.
Instead, he produced the decisive dose.
Meena won four straight points to complete the comeback and secure a place in the semi-finals – and with it India’s first ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis. Screenshot from the Asian Games website
PERMANENT ENTRY FOR JAY
It was another step forward for a player who was already persistently rewriting the record books.
Meena reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. This time he went one step further and guaranteed a medal. He is also the only Indian to reach the medal rounds in the individual and mixed events at these Games, with fellow Indian Árijec Thakur bowing out in the group stage.
His breakthrough had been coming for some time.
Meena won men’s singles gold at the 2022 National Games in Gujarat and later became the national champion in the event in 2025. Internationally, he won India’s first ever medal at the 2024 World Soft Tennis Championships when he took bronze with Aadhya Tiwari in mixed doubles.
A year later, he became the first Indian to win a medal at the Asian Soft Tennis Championships when he claimed bronze in the men’s singles. He ended this tournament with four medals in singles, mixed doubles, men’s teams and mixed teams.
His international journey began remarkably early. By the age of 14, Meena was already competing in Japan, the home of soft tennis. Now, in his third appearance at the Asian Games, the sport he discovered almost by accident has given him a place in Indian sporting history.
There was also structured support behind this journey. Meena is a TAGG (Target Asian Games Group) athlete and trained at national coaching camps in Ahmedabad and Jammu in preparation for the Asian Championship and Asian Games. He also received foreign exposure assistance in Korea and Japan, including training in Japan.
During the 2026 Asian Games cycle, it received Rs 4,06,950 under TAGG and Rs 18,79,948 under assistance to National Sports Federations.
The numbers tell one part of Meena’s story. The medal says otherwise. But perhaps the most revealing part remains the beginning: the boy who wanted to play cricket, the school ground he stumbled upon and the role of a ball boy that eventually led him to the sport in which he made Indian history.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
23 Sep 2026 10:15 IST