Rajiv Ouseph

Rajiv Ouseph
Personal information
Country	England
Born	(1986-08-30) 30 August 1986 Hounslow, London, England
Residence	Milton Keynes, England
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	10 (1 November 2016[1])
Current ranking	22 (12 April 2018)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Mixed team 2010 Delhi Men's singles 2018 Gold Coast Men's singles 2018 Gold Coast Mixed team 2010 Delhi Mixed team European Championships 2017 Kolding Men's singles 2018 Huelva Men's singles 2014 Kazan Men's singles 2016 La Roche-sur-Yon Men's singles 2010 Manchester Men's singles European Mixed Team Championships 2015 Leuven Mixed team 2013 Moscow Mixed team European Men's Team Championships 2018 Kazan Men's team 2014 Basel Men's team 2008 Almere Men's team 2016 Kazan Men's team 2012 Amsterdam Men's team 2006 Thessalonica Men's team European Junior Championships 2005 Den Bosch Boys' singles
BWF profile

Theratil Rajiv Ouseph^[2][3] (born 30 August 1986 in Hounslow, London) is a male badminton player from England. A member of the Great Britain and England Badminton squads, he is the current England number one men's singles player. In 2017, Ouseph won the Men's singles title at the European Badminton Championships, becoming European champion.

Rajiv was born and brought up in London and is of Indian descent.

Career

Rajiv has won the Senior National Singles title seven times in a row at the English National Badminton Championships from 2008 to 2014, the first player to do so.^[4] Ouseph became the first player to win more than four consecutive national singles titles since Darren Hall (1988–1991).

In the junior English national circuit he has won all the singles titles from the ages of under-13 to under-19. In the European arena he has won the under-19 Danish titles in singles and mixed doubles and the German Junior title in singles. His other notable achievements are winning the European Junior Championship in 2005, the first Englishman to win the title in twenty years.

In 2009 he won the Canadian Open, Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse, Scottish Open, Irish Open and went on to win the 2009 European Circuit Finals.

He won his first senior cap for England at the age of nineteen in the Thomas Cup. He also represented England in the Sudirman Cup where he was the youngest player in the English team. Rajiv was selected as the number one singles player for the English team in the 2010 Thomas Cup qualifiers which was held in Poland in February 2010.

Ouseph achieved a then-career best world ranking of world No. 11 in Nov 2010^[5] after winning the US Open men's singles title and winning the bronze medal in the Men's Singles Event in the 2010 European Badminton Championships. Later that year he won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in men's singles, as well as the bronze medal in the mixed team event.

In 2014 Rajiv took silver at the European Badminton Championships after losing to top seed Jan Jorgensen of Denmark in Kazan, Russia.^[6]

Representing Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Men's Singles but he was defeated by bronze medalist Viktor Axelsen from Denmark in quarter finals.^[7]

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Gold Coast, Australia	H. S. Prannoy	17–21, 25–23, 21–9	Bronze
2010	Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India	Lee Chong Wei	10–21, 8–21	Silver

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Palacio de Deportes de Huelva, Huelva, Spain	Viktor Axelsen	8–21, 7–21	Silver
2017	Sydbank Arena, Kolding, Denmark	Anders Antonsen	21–19, 21–19	Gold
2016	Vendéspace, La Roche-sur-Yon, France	Jan Ø. Jørgensen	11–21, 16–21	Bronze
2014	Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia	Jan Ø. Jørgensen	18–21, 10–21	Silver
2010	Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England	Jan Ø. Jørgensen	14–21, 20–22	Bronze

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	De Maaspoort, Den Bosch, Netherlands	Dieter Domke	15–0, 15–4	Gold

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two level such as Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	U.S. Grand Prix	Lee Hyun-il	19–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2015	Scottish Open	Hans-Kristian Vittinghus	19–21, 21–11, 16–21	Runner-up
2010	U.S. Open	Brice Leverdez	21–17, 21–9	Winner

     BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

     BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	Swedish Masters	Pablo Abián	21–15, 21–17	Winner
2013	Finnish Open	Dmytro Zavadsky	21–16, 21–12	Winner
2013	French International	Flemming Quach	21–15, 21–15	Winner
2012	Finnish Open	Henri Hurskainen	21–18, 16–21, 21–18	Winner
2011	Irish International	Przemyslaw Wacha	21–15, 11–5 Retired	Winner
2011	Scottish International	Carl Baxter	21–18, 21–10	Winner
2009	Canadian International	Carl Baxter	21–11, 21–19	Winner
2009	Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse	Kashyap Parupalli	21–11, 21–12	Winner
2008	Irish International	Scott Evans	21–5, 21–19	Winner
2008	Scottish International	Anand Pawar	21–17, 21–8	Winner
2007	Dutch International	Wu Yunyong	16–21, 16–21	Runner-up

     BWF International Challenge tournament

     BWF International Series tournament

Personal life

Ouseph took up badminton at the age of 9, encouraged by the rest of his family who also played badminton.^[4] Although he began a degree in Media at Loughborough University, he chose to give it up in favour of his badminton career.^[4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rajiv Ouseph.

• Official website
• Rajiv Ouseph at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Rajiv Ouseph at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
• Rajiv Ouseph at gc2018.com