Who Is Jay Meena? Indian Star Who Won India 1st Soft Tennis Bronze At Asian Games
Jay Meena's name will now forever be etched in Indian sporting history. The 24-year-old from Madhya Pradesh secured India's first-ever soft tennis medal at the Asian Games
- Jay Meena won India's first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis, claiming bronze at 24
- Meena lost 2-4 to Japan's Takuya Kurosaka in the men's singles semi-final at the 2026 Asian Games
- He is a 2022 National Games gold medallist and national soft tennis champion in men's singles
Jay Meena's name will now forever be etched in Indian sporting history. The 24-year-old from Madhya Pradesh secured India's first-ever soft tennis medal at the Asian Games, claiming a bronze after losing to Japan's Takuya Kurosaka in the men's singles semi-finals on Wednesday. Playing in his third Asian Games, 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.
Who Is Jay Meena?
Meena hails from Madhya Pradesh's Dewas and is a 2022 National Games gold medallist. While he is now a soft tennis star, Meena earlier dreamt of becoming a cricketer. He was introduced to soft tennis at Pioneer Public School in Dewas. There, as a ball boy, he saw the sport for the first time. His interest grew and, by the age of 14, he was competing at the international level.
He won gold in men's singles at the 2022 National Games in Gujarat. He became the national champion in men's singles in 2025.
The Asian Games bronze is not Meena's first medal at the international level. At the 2024 World Soft Tennis Championships, he and Aadhya Tiwari won bronze in mixed doubles. This was India's first-ever medal at the World Soft Tennis Championships.
At the 2025 Asian Soft Tennis Championships, he became the first Indian to win a medal at the continental championships. He won bronze in men's singles and was involved in three other medal-winning campaigns in the mixed doubles, men's team, and mixed team events.
The Asian Games Semi-final Report
He 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 bronze.
Earlier in the day, Meena had reached the semi-finals 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 quarter-final.
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 quarter-finals. Meena previously won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event at the 2024 World Soft Tennis Championships.