1. Riki Nakaya is a two-time lightweight world champion and an Olympic silver medalist.
57 Facts About Riki Nakaya
1. 2.
Riki Nakaya was a finalist at the 2015 World Championships.
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Riki Nakaya won medals in several competitions in his junior career.
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Riki Nakaya has competed in the lightweight division since he was a junior judoka.
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In 2007, Riki Nakaya won the A-Tournament U20 in Saint Petersburg, and came second in the Asian U20 Championships in Hyderabad.
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Riki Nakaya made his transition to the senior level at the All Japan Championships in Fukuoka, finishing third.
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Riki Nakaya entered his first international senior tournament at the Grand Slam in Tokyo.
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Riki Nakaya again won the bronze medal at the All Japan Championships.
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Riki Nakaya won all his fights by ippon en route to the final at the World Cup in Vienna.
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Riki Nakaya lost to fellow Japanese and local lightweight number one Hiroyuki Akimoto in the final when Akimoto scored two waza-aris for ippon.
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Riki Nakaya won the bronze medal for the third consecutive time at the All Japan Championships.
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At the Grand Prix in Rotterdam, Riki Nakaya failed to win a medal when he lost to Poland's Tomasz Adamiec by two waza-aris in the quarter-final.
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Riki Nakaya made a breakthrough in his career in his second Tokyo Grand Slam.
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Riki Nakaya faced against fellow countryman Yuki Nishiyama in the final, and won the gold medal by defeating Nishiyama with juji-gatame for ippon.
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Riki Nakaya continued his winning streak in his first Paris Grand Slam.
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Riki Nakaya defeated the Netherlands' Dex Elmont in the quarter-final, fellow Japanese Yasuhiro Awano in the semi-final, and Hungary's Attila Ungvari in the final, all by ippon, giving him his second IJF circuit and Grand Slam title.
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Riki Nakaya reached the semi-final of the World Cup in Budapest, and lost to Ungvari in a revenge match by ippon.
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Riki Nakaya then won the bronze medal by defeating Ukraine's Petro Kuzmin.
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Riki Nakaya then competed in his first and only continental tournament in his career in Abu Dhabi.
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Riki Nakaya reached the final after winning all his fights by ippon, but was faced against double world champion Wang Ki-chun, and lost by waza-ari, leaving him to settle for silver.
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Riki Nakaya won his third Grand Slam in Rio de Janeiro, winning three of his five fights by ippon.
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Riki Nakaya defeated Portugal's Joao Pina in the final by ippon.
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Riki Nakaya continued Japan's dominance in the lightweight division, taking over from Akimoto as the world champion.
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Riki Nakaya played ippon judo in his first five fights, before meeting defending champion Akimoto in the semi-final.
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Riki Nakaya defeated Akimoto with an osoto gari for waza-ari, and was set against Elmont in the final.
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Riki Nakaya defeated Elmont in a scoreless and shido-filled fight to become world champion.
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Riki Nakaya became the world number one in the lightweight division in September 2011.
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Riki Nakaya surprisingly failed to win a medal at his first outing as world champion at home ground at the 2011 Grand Slam in Tokyo.
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Riki Nakaya then met Akimoto again in the semi-final, and narrowly won by shido.
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Riki Nakaya was set to face world number two Wang in the final.
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En route to the Olympics, Riki Nakaya appeared to be on-form and earned his spot to represent Japan in London after winning his first All Japan Championships just two months before the Games.
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Riki Nakaya defeated future rival Shohei Ono in the final to be Japan's lightweight representative.
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Riki Nakaya then faced Russia's Mansur Isaev in the final.
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Riki Nakaya was one of Japan's three silver medalists, and with only Kaori Matsumoto winning gold, it was the country's worst judo campaign at the Olympics.
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Riki Nakaya continued his losing streak at the 2012 Grand Slam in Tokyo, where he lost to rising star Ono in the final by ippon and waza-ari.
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However, in the 2013 All Japan Championships, Riki Nakaya managed to regain his title, beating Nishiyama in the final.
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At the 2013 World Championships, Riki Nakaya defeated his first two opponents by ippon, and then won against Taipei's Huang Chun-ta by waza-ari.
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Riki Nakaya then faced Mongolia's Sainjargalyn Nyam-Ochir in the quarter-final, where Sainjargalyn threw him with osoto guruma for ippon.
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Riki Nakaya was unable to compete in the repechage as he had suffered a concussion from the throw, and had to be hospitalized.
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Riki Nakaya won his second Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2013, beating all his opponents by ippon, making it his first all-ippon tournament.
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Riki Nakaya defeated South Korea's Bang Gui-man in the final with osaekomi-waza.
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At the Grand Slam in Paris in 2014, just six months before the world championships, Riki Nakaya experienced a set-back when he was defeated by Isaev by ippon in the second round.
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Riki Nakaya's set-backs continued to mount with his loss to rival Ono at the 2014 All Japan Championships final, where Ono threw him with an uki otoshi for ippon, leaving Riki Nakaya to settle for silver.
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At the 2014 World Championships, Riki Nakaya came in ranked number sixteen, and had a difficult match list with budding stars like Israel's Sagi Muki and Azerbaijan's Rustam Orujov.
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Riki Nakaya managed to defeat them both by waza-ari and yuko, respectively.
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Riki Nakaya then faced 2013 Asian Champion Hong Kuk-hyon, ranked number 32, in the final, who had equally difficult opponents in the form of Dirk Van Tichelt, Nugzar Tatalashvili and Ugo Legrand.
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Riki Nakaya defeated Hong with one of his signature skills ippon seoi nage for ippon, earning him his second World Championship title.
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Riki Nakaya then participated at the Masters in Rabat, where he won by ippon in his first two fights.
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Riki Nakaya was defeated by Georgia's Tatalashvili by ippon and yuko in the semi-final.
50.
Riki Nakaya met Mongolia's Odbayar Ganbaatar in the bronze medal contest, and defeated him by ippon.
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Riki Nakaya then competed in his fourth world championships in Astana, where he played ippon judo en route to the final.
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Riki Nakaya defeated long-time opponents Ungvari, in the quarter-final, and Hong, in the semi-final.
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Riki Nakaya met teammate and prime rival Ono in the final, where he lost by waza-ari, leaving him to settle for silver.
54.
At the 2015 Grand Slam in Tokyo, Riki Nakaya lost in his second fight against Musa Mogushkov by waza-ari and yuko.
55.
Riki Nakaya had a better tournament at the 2016 Grand Slam in Paris, winning thrice by ippon.
56.
Riki Nakaya lost against eventual finalist Akimoto in the quarter-final by ippon, then had to concede in the bronze medal contest against Muki due to a broken arm, leaving him to finish fifth place.
57.
Riki Nakaya is currently ranked number six in the Olympic qualifiers, and is third in Japan behind Ono and Akimoto.