Asian Games 2026: Jay Meena and Aadhya Tiwari target India’s first soft tennis medal in Aichi-Nagoya
Jay Meena and Aadhya Tiwari are aiming to secure India’s first soft tennis medal at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, bolstered by several months of international competition exposure ahead of the event. The pair lead a six-member Indian soft tennis squad that has already advanced to the competition’s quarterfinals.
Meena and Tiwari arrive in Japan with prior podium finishes at world and Asian events in mixed doubles and will contest multiple disciplines at the Games: Jay in men’s singles, men’s team and mixed doubles, and Aadhya in women’s singles and mixed doubles. The full playing squad comprises Yogesh Choudhary, Om Yadav, Aniket Chirag Patel and Aryan Thakur, with coach Devanshi Hareshbhai Patel and physiotherapist Utsav Kumar Dubey on staff. India opened its Asian Games campaign in the men’s team event.
India progressed from Group C after defeating Laos 3-0, losing to Chinese Taipei 3-0, and beating Mongolia 3-0 to qualify for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal ties are scheduled for Saturday.
Jay Meena, from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, swapped an early interest in cricket for soft tennis after watching boys play at a court beside his school and was competing internationally by age 14. He represented India at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, won men’s singles gold at the 36th National Games in Gujarat, and in 2024 partnered Aadhya to win bronze in mixed doubles at the World Soft Tennis Championships. Jay added national champion status in 2025, earned bronze in men’s singles at the 2025 Asian Soft Tennis Championship, and took bronze in men’s singles at the 2026 Sunchang Open.
“In 2018 I played my first Asian Games in Jakarta. It was a very different experience of my life. I came to know what the value of the Asian Games is. This is my third Asian Games. In China too, when the Asian Games were held in Hangzhou, I reached the quarterfinals in singles, and there I lost very narrowly. But this time, the Indian federation and the Indian government have done a lot of hard work on the players. I want to thank the Sports Ministry and our government for their unprecedented support. We had international camps; we stayed out of the country for four-five months, playing in Korea and Japan. “I am in TAGG scheme. I was provided equipment, which are generally imported, like racquets and balls etc. free of cost apart from shoes and playing kits and tracksuits. Playing in Korea and Japan has boosted my confidence. Both the countries organise leagues and tournaments throughout the year, which helps the players keep in shape. You develop good muscle memory, and then when there is a pressure situation in the match, your body doesn’t feel it. We have never won a medal at the Asian Games, and this is our target coming to Japan this time,” Jay explained.
Aadhya Tiwari, from Hoshangabad, began playing tennis at age three despite her father being a Ranji Trophy cricketer and initially had limited coaching resources before switching focus to soft tennis. She was Asia No. 6 seed in lawn tennis and competed in that discipline until 2013, after which a soft tennis official encouraged her to try the sport; in her first soft tennis tournament she won two bronze and one silver and subsequently earned places in Junior and Senior World Championships. Aadhya was the youngest Indian soft tennis athlete at the 2018 Asian Games at 15, finished fifth in the women’s team event at Hangzhou in 2023, and won bronze in mixed doubles and mixed team at the 2025 Asian Soft Tennis Championship.
“I learned tennis by myself. Then I was playing lawn tennis and was the Asia No. 6 seed. I played lawn tennis quite well; almost until 2013. After that, I went to a tournament, and there the soft tennis secretary from Madhya Pradesh approached me, saying, ‘Why don’t you try soft tennis?’ So, I was like, ‘Okay, sir, I’ll try once.’ “In my very first tournament, I got two bronze and one silver medal, and my name came up in the Junior World Championship and Senior World Championship. Ever since then, I have been continuing soft tennis because in lawn tennis, there were high costs involved,” Aadhya told SAI Media from Japan.
Both players have been included in the Sports Authority of India’s Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) and attended international camps organized by SAI; Jay’s TAGG induction last year provided financial assistance for international exposure and national coaching camps in Jammu and Ahmedabad. “I am very thankful to the TAGG scheme because the camps we got helped our game develop and improve a lot. SAI has helped us a lot. The training we got in the camps, and all the infrastructure, equipment, and even racquets—everything was provided by SAI, and the training went very well this time. In Korea too, sir, there was a full one-month camp, and in Japan, a pre-Asian Games camp was held for 20 days. Right now, I would just say that there are high chances of getting a medal,” Aadhya said.
India’s soft tennis team will contest the quarterfinal on Saturday with Meena and Tiwari pursuing what would be the nation’s first Asian Games medal in the sport.
