Indian soft tennis player Jai Meena has created a new history by winning the bronze medal despite losing 2-4 to Japan's Tsukoya Kurosaka in the men's singles semi-finals at the Asian Games on Wednesday (September 23). This is India's first Asian Games medal in soft tennis. Jai Meena had secured bronze by reaching the semi-finals.
26-year-old Jai Meena, playing in his third Asian Games, made a strong comeback after falling three games short in the semi-finals but could not maintain the momentum and lost to Kurosaka 2-4 (3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4) in a match that lasted 45 minutes.
Jai Meena, a resident of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and 2022 National Games gold medalist, initially struggled to find his rhythm. Kurosaka had no trouble winning the first three games. Jai Meena made a brilliant comeback. They won the fourth game easily 4–1 and then won the fifth game 6–4 to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive.
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Jai Meena lost in the sixth game
Kurosaka bounced back in the sixth game and won the match 4–1, securing his place in the final. In this way Jai Meena had to be satisfied with the bronze medal. Earlier in the day, he had defeated Sherwin Nugit of Philippines 4-3 (0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 4-2, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5) in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals.
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Jai Meena also participated in the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games but failed to reach the medal round then. He has also won a medal in the World Soft Tennis Championship. He won the bronze medal in the mixed doubles event in 2024.