A new name at the top: Xinran Hui takes over the -48kg world ranking

China may have found its next lightweight headline act. Xinran Hui, only 22, moved to number one on the IJF World Ranking in U48kg as of 7 April 2026. It’s a landmark moment: she is the first Chinese judoka to lead the rankings since 2016, and the first ever Chinese lightweight to reach the top spot.

Her rise didn’t start on the senior stage. In 2024, Hui won the junior world title in Dushanbe, ending a long wait for China. That gold made her the country’s first junior world champion since Qian Qin in 2006 and hinted that a new generation in Chinese women’s judo was ready to push forward.

The jump to the IJF World Tour has been fast and decisive. In 2025 she captured Grand Slam gold in Astana, added silver in Abu Dhabi, and took bronze at the Tashkent Grand Slam. In 2026 she kept building, earning bronze at the Paris Grand Slam before landing another major statement with a Grand Slam victory in Tashkent.

World number one at 22 is a message the division can’t ignore.

Even earlier, she showed signs of what was coming with silver at the Oceania Open in Perth in 2023. And she has backed up her momentum with consistent head-to-head results: Hui is 3-0 against Laziza Haydarova and 3-0 against Sabina Giliazova, and she leads Mongolia’s Narantsetseg Ganbaatar 2-1.

One of the key measuring-stick moments this season came in Paris, where she fell in the quarter-final to former world number one Shirine Boukli. For European fans, Boukli’s win underlined how tight the margins are at the elite level—and for Hui, it looked like a lesson she quickly turned into progress.

China’s Olympic history in women’s judo is proud, but true lightweight Olympic success has been rare. With her speed, sharp movement and tactical maturity, Hui now looks like a genuine long-term hope, with Los Angeles 2028 already on the horizon.

Source: JudoInside