Jay Meena created history at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian athlete to win an Asian Games medal in soft tennis.
Meena secured bronze in the men’s singles event after reaching the semi-finals, where he was defeated 2-4 by Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka. The Indian went three sets down before producing a strong fightback, winning the fourth and fifth sets to bring the contest to 2-3.
Kurosaka, however, regained control in the sixth set and won it 4-1 to book his place in the final. The set scores were 3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4 and 1-4.
Meena had reached the semi-finals after edging past the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in a closely fought quarter-final. Since all four semi-finalists were guaranteed medals, Meena’s progression had already secured India a historic podium finish in soft tennis.
The bronze also contributed to India’s growing medal haul at the Games, taking the country’s tally to 10 at the time. India’s medals included golds in cricket and mixed martial arts, where Suchika Tariyal secured the country’s first Asian Games medal in the sport, along with a gold and several medals in shooting.
China continued to lead the overall medal standings, while India were placed eighth.
India added two more bronze medals in skeet team events on Wednesday. Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan combined for 331 points to finish third in the women’s competition. The men’s trio of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill also took bronze after beating Kazakhstan in a shoot-off.
Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol final, finishing fifth.
The Indian women’s kabaddi team continued its campaign with a 37-23 victory over Iran in their Group A encounter.
Several Indian athletes also progressed in rowing and canoe sprint. Balraj Panwar advanced to the men’s single sculls final, while Satnam Singh and Salman Khan secured a place in the men’s double sculls final. India’s women’s four crew also made it through to Final A.
In canoe sprint, India’s men’s kayak four team qualified for the 500m final. Megha Pradeep advanced to the women’s canoe single 200m semi-finals, while Parvathy Geetha-Phairembam Soniya Devi progressed in the women’s kayak double 500m event.
