India’s Jay Meena scripted history at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday, reaching the men’s singles semi-finals and assuring the country of its first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis.Playing in his third Asian Games, Meena battled past the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in a seven-game quarter-final thriller, winning 4-3 to book his place in the last four.Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal TallyThe Indian recovered from a tough start to eventually prevail 0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5 in a closely fought contest against Nuguit.Meena’s semi-final berth guarantees him a medal, marking a landmark achievement for Indian soft tennis at the Asian Games. He had previously competed at the 2018 and 2022 editions of the Games.The 4-3 victory capped a strong run for Meena, who had earlier defeated Pakistan’s Arain Hussain 4-0 in the men’s singles Group D to progress to the quarter-finals.Meena will now take on the semi-finals with a chance to go a step further and secure a place in the gold medal match.India also added a bronze medal in the women’s skeet team event, with Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan combining for 331 points.Raiza and Parinaaz both registered scores of 111 out of 125, while Maheshwari contributed 109 to the team total. China claimed the gold with 346 points, with Kazakhstan taking silver.The podium finish gave India another medal in shooting at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, while Meena’s historic run ensured the country’s first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis.India’s campaign also saw two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker advance to the women’s 10m air pistol individual final. Bhaker produced a strong qualification performance to make the medal round, while fellow Indian shooters Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh missed out on a place in the final.
