Raju Rai

Rajiv Kumar Rai
Personal information
Birth nameRajiv Kumar Rai
CountryUnited States
Born (1983-02-03) February 3, 1983
Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight180 lb (82 kg)
HandednessRight
CoachTony Gunawan
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
2003 Santo DomingoMixed doubles
Pan Am Championships
2005 BridgetownMen's doubles
2005 BridgetownMixed team
2005 BridgetownMen's singles
BWF profile

Rajiv Kumar Rai (born February 3, 1983) is an American badminton player of Indian descent. 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. 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).

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.

Rai is a former coach of Bellevue Badminton Club, and also, an athlete director for the U.S. national badminton team. 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.