Raju Rai
| Raju Rai | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Rajiv Kumar Rai | ||||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 February 1983 Lawrenceville, Georgia | ||||||||||||||
| Residence | Irving, California | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (180 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Handedness | Right | ||||||||||||||
| Coach | Tony Gunawan | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| BWF profile | |||||||||||||||
Rajiv Kumar "Raju" Rai (born February 3, 1983 in Lawrenceville, Georgia) 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 coach the top junior players in the United States at California Badminton Academy in Fremont, California.
References
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Raju Rai". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ a b "USA Badminton Announces New Board of Directors". Team USA. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ Rao, Sam (5 August 2008). "Another Indian-American books berth". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ "Men's Singles Round of 32". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ Miller, Jeff (11 August 2008). "O.C. badminton drought continues with Rai loss". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
External links
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- 1983 births
- American male badminton players
- Living people
- Olympic badminton players of the United States
- Badminton players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States
- American people of Indian descent
- Sportspeople of Indian descent
- People from Lawrenceville, Georgia
- Sportspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
- American sportspeople stubs
- North American badminton biography stubs