From Ball Boy to Asian Games History-Maker: Jay Meena’s Remarkable Soft Tennis Rise
India has a new name in its Asian Games history: Jay Meena. The Madhya Pradesh soft tennis player has become India’s first-ever Asian Games medallist in soft tennis, winning bronze in the men’s singles event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Xtratime Webdesk: India has a new name in its Asian Games history: Jay Meena. The Madhya Pradesh soft tennis player has become India’s first-ever Asian Games medallist in soft tennis, winning bronze in the men’s singles event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games. But this historic medal did not come out of nowhere. Meena had already spent years building a strong record on the national and international stage.
His journey, however, began far away from the Asian Games podium. Jay Meena once wanted to become a cricketer. After joining Pioneer Public School in Dewas, Jay Meena discovered soft tennis almost by chance. He began as a ball boy, before picking up a racquet himself, eventually turning an unexpected start into a career. And soon, his journey was turning into a medal-winning one.
At the 2022 National Games, Meena won men’s singles gold before making history again in 2024 alongside Aadhya Tiwari, winning a mixed doubles bronze at the World Soft Tennis Championships, India’s first medal at the event. In 2025, he added an Asian Soft Tennis Championships singles bronze, becoming the first Indian to medal at the continental championships. He and Aadhya Tiwari also won a mixed doubles bronze at the very same event. He also helped India to three other medals and won the national singles title.
And now, in Nagoya, Meena has added the biggest medal of his career so far. His 2026 Asian Games campaign saw him defeat the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in a dramatic 4-3 quarter-final, guaranteeing India its first-ever Asian Games soft tennis medal. He later lost 2-4 to Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka in the semi-final, confirming the bronze. Nagoya was Meena’s third Asian Games appearance. He had previously represented India at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
From dreaming of cricket to serving as a school ball boy, from winning a National Games gold to collecting medals at the world and Asian championships, Jay Meena has now completed the journey to an Asian Games podium and into Indian sporting history.