| Raju Rai | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Rajiv Kumar Rai | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 3, 1983 Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 180 lb (82 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Handedness | Right | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Tony Gunawan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| BWF profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rajiv Kumar "Raju" Rai (born February 3, 1983) is an American badminton player of Indian descent.[1] He won a bronze medal, along with his partner Mesinee Mangkalakiri, in the mixed doubles at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[2] Rai is also a member of Orange County Badminton Club in Anaheim, California, and is coached and trained by former Olympic doubles champion Tony Gunawan (2000), who is currently playing for the United States.[3]
Rai qualified for the men's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after he was ranked sixty-eighth in the world, and awarded an entry as one of the top 38 seeded players by the Badminton World Federation. He received a bye for the second preliminary round before losing out to Finland's Ville Lång, with a score of 9–21 and 16–21.[4][5]
Rai is a former coach of Bellevue Badminton Club, and also, an athlete director for the U.S. national badminton team.[2] He, along with fellow Olympian Bob Malaythong, currently coaches the top junior players in the United States at Synergy Badminton Academy in Menlo Park, California.
