Jay Meena bags soft tennis bronze at Nagoya.
Jay Meena etched his name in the history books on Wednesday by winning India's first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis. He claimed bronze in the men's singles event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026.
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Meena faced Japan's Takuya Kurosaka in the semi-finals, eventually falling short with a 2-4 scoreline. He lost the initial three sets before fighting back hard to capture the fourth and fifth sets. This effort reduced the gap to 2-3. Ultimately, Kurosaka won the sixth set 4-1 to close out the match. The final set scores were 3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4.
Soft tennis is highly popular in East Asia, making this breakthrough performance by an Indian athlete especially notable on the continental stage. Meena had earlier confirmed his podium finish by defeating Sherwin Nuguit of the Philippines in the quarter-final.
This bronze pushes the overall medal tally for India at these Games to 10. The count currently includes one gold and seven medals from shooting events, alongside gold medals in cricket and mixed martial arts won by Suchika Tariyal. China currently leads the medal standings with 60 medals, while India sits in eighth place.
Also Read: Mirabai Chanu ends 28 year weightlifting medal wrought with Asian Games Silver
Indian shooters also delivered strong performances on Wednesday. Both the men's and women's skeet teams earned bronze medals. Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, and Maheshwari Chauhan formed the women's team, finishing third with a combined score of 331. The men's trio of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, and Bhavtegh Singh Gill won their shoot-off against Kazakhstan.
In kabaddi, the Indian women's team defeated Iran 37-23 in their Group A match. Meanwhile, Olympic shooter Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women's 10m air pistol final. In rowing, Balraj Panwar qualified for the men's single sculls final, keeping more medal hopes alive.
Also Read: Indian women Skeet Trio grabs Asian Games 2026 Bronze while Manu Bhaker Storms into final
With Inputs from Agency Threads and Image Courtesy: ANI
