[2] Rai made his international debut in 2003 at the age of 19 years at the Asian Archery Championship 2003 held at Yangon, Myanmar.

[4] He became an Olympian taking part in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he was placed 32nd in the men's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 647.

He also became the first Indian to make it to the semifinal round of the World Archery Championship in 2005 where he narrowly lost to Won Jong Choi of South Korea by 106-112 for the bronze medal play-off.

[11] Rai along with Atanu Das and Praveen Jadhav won a quota place and took part in Tokyo Olympics.

Rai is selected to take part in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games at Paris in both individual and team events.