Riki Nakaya

Nakaya's first tournament in 2015 was the All Japan Championships, where both Nakaya and long-time rival Ono won only bronze medals.

Nakaya's post-World Championships outings have both ended without a medal. At the 2015 Grand Slam in Tokyo, Nakaya lost in his second fight against Musa Mogushkov by waza-ari and yuko. He had a better tournament at the 2016 Grand Slam in Paris, winning thrice by ippon. He 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.

Nakaya married his high school sweetheart in 2014, and they have a one-year-old child.

At the Grand Slam in Paris in 2014, just six months before the world championships, Nakaya experienced a set-back when he was defeated by Isaev by ippon in the second round.

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 Nakaya to settle for silver.

At the 2014 World Championships, 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. He managed to defeat them both by waza-ari and yuko, respectively. 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. It was an unlikely match up with unseeded finalists.

However, in the 2013 All Japan Championships, Nakaya managed to regain his title, beating Nishiyama in the final.

At the 2013 World Championships, Nakaya defeated his first two opponents by ippon, and then won against Taipei's Huang Chun-ta by waza-ari. He then faced Mongolia's Sainjargalyn Nyam-Ochir in the quarter-final, where Sainjargalyn threw him with osoto guruma for ippon. Nakaya was unable to compete in the repechage as he had suffered a concussion from the throw, and had to be hospitalized.

Nakaya won his second Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2013, beating all his opponents by ippon, making it his first all-ippon tournament. He defeated South Korea's Bang Gui-man in the final with osaekomi-waza.

Nakaya's first outing at a Masters was in Almaty in 2012, and beat his first two opponents by ippon. Nakaya then met Akimoto again in the semi-final, and narrowly won by shido. He was set to face world number two Wang in the final. In a turn of events, it was again a score-less fight, and Wang would be the one to defeat Nakaya by shido, leaving him to settle for silver.

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.

Nakaya became the world number one in the lightweight division in September 2011.

Nakaya surprisingly failed to win a medal at his first outing as world champion at home ground at the 2011 Grand Slam in Tokyo. After beating Russia's Murat Kodzokov in the quarter-final by ippon and yuko, he was defeated by long-time rival Akimoto by ippon in the semi-final, leaving him medal-less at fifth place.

Nakaya won medals in several competitions in his junior career. He has competed in the lightweight division since he was a junior judoka. In 2007, Nakaya won the A-Tournament U20 in Saint Petersburg, and came second in the Asian U20 Championships in Hyderabad. In 2008, he won bronze medals at the A-Tournament U20 in Lyon and World U20 Championships in Bangkok. Nakaya made his transition to the senior level at the All Japan Championships in Fukuoka, finishing third.

Riki Nakaya (中矢　力 , Nakaya Riki, born 25 July 1989) is a Japanese judoka. He is a two-time lightweight world champion and an Olympic silver medalist. He was also a finalist at the 2015 World Championships.