Weeks before the 2026 Asian Games, 25-year-old Jay Meena could barely climb a flight of stairs. Typhoid had left him eight kilograms lighter, bedridden and racing against time. In Nagoya, the 25-year-old overcame illness, injury and self-doubt to win India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in Soft Tennis, completing an extraordinary journey that began with a school rustication. Weeks before the 2026 Asian Games, 25-year-old Jay Meena could barely climb a flight of stairs. Typhoid had left him eight kilograms lighter, bedridden and racing against time. In Nagoya, the 25-year-old overcame illness, injury and self-doubt to win India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in Soft Tennis, completing an extraordinary journey that began with a school rustication.
