Rajiv Ouseph
Theratil Rajiv Ouseph[2][3] (born 30 August 1986) is a former international badminton player from England who has represented both England and Great Britain. A long-time English and British No.1, Ouseph's most significant international tournament achievement was becoming the European Men's Singles Champion, winning the title in 2017.
Ouseph was born and brought up in west London and is of Indian descent with Kerala heritage.
Career
[edit]Ouseph has won the men's singles titles at the National Championships, seven times in a row 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 U–13 to U–19. In the European tournaments, he has won the U–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 International, 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. Ouseph was selected as the number one singles player for the English team in the Thomas Cup qualifiers which was held in Poland in February 2010.
Ouseph was ranked as world number 11 in November 2010, after winning the U.S. Open men's singles title and winning the bronze medal in the men's singles in the European Championships. Later that year he won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the men's singles, as well as the bronze medal in the mixed team event.
In 2014, Ouseph took silver at the European Championships after losing to top seed Jan Ø. Jørgensen of Denmark in Kazan, Russia.[5]
Representing Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's singles event, he was defeated by bronze medallist Viktor Axelsen from Denmark in quarter finals.[6]
In 2017 Rajiv became the first English Men’s Singles player in 27 years to become a European Champion. In Kolding, Denmark he beat the home soil favourites to win the European Championships.[7]
Achievements
[edit]Commonwealth Games
[edit]Men's singles
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India |  Lee Chong Wei
|
10–21, 8–21 |  Silver
|
| 2018 | Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Gold Coast, Australia |  H. S. Prannoy
|
17–21, 25–23, 21–9 |  Bronze
|
European Championships
[edit]Men's singles
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England |  Jan Ø. Jørgensen
|
14–21, 20–22 | Bronze
|
| 2014 | Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia | Jan Ø. Jørgensen
|
18–21, 10–21 | Silver
|
| 2016 | Vendéspace, La Roche-sur-Yon, France | Jan Ø. Jørgensen
|
11–21, 16–21 | Bronze
|
| 2017 | Sydbank Arena, Kolding, Denmark | Anders Antonsen
|
21–19, 21–19 |  Gold
|
| 2018 | Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain | Viktor Axelsen
|
8–21, 7–21 | Silver
|
European Junior Championships
[edit]Boys' singles
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | De Maaspoort, Den Bosch, Netherlands |  Dieter Domke
|
15–0, 15–4 | Gold
|
BWF World Tour
[edit]The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[8] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[9]
Men's singles
| Year | Tournament | Level | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | SaarLorLux Open | Super 100 | Subhankar Dey
|
11–21, 14–21 |  Runner-up
|
BWF Grand Prix
[edit]The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017.
Men's singles
| Year | Tournament | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | U.S. Open |  Brice Leverdez
|
21–17, 21–9 |  Winner
|
| 2015 | Scottish Open | Hans-Kristian Vittinghus
|
19–21, 21–11, 16–21 | Runner-up
|
| 2015 | U.S. Grand Prix |  Lee Hyun-il
|
19–21, 12–21 | Runner-up
|
- BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
- BWF Grand Prix tournament
BWF International Challenge/Series
[edit]Men's singles
| Year | Tournament | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Dutch International |  Wu Yunyong
|
16–21, 16–21 | Runner-up
|
| 2008 | Scottish International | Anand Pawar
|
21–17, 21–8 | Winner
|
| 2008 | Irish International |  Scott Evans
|
21–5, 21–19 | Winner
|
| 2009 | Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse | Kashyap Parupalli
|
21–11, 21–12 | Winner
|
| 2009 | Canadian International |  Carl Baxter
|
21–11, 21–19 | Winner
|
| 2011 | Scottish International | Carl Baxter
|
21–18, 21–10 | Winner
|
| 2011 | Irish International |  Przemysław Wacha
|
21–15, 11–5 retired | Winner
|
| 2012 | Finnish Open |  Henri Hurskainen
|
21–18, 16–21, 21–18 | Winner
|
| 2013 | French International | Flemming Quach
|
21–15, 21–15 | Winner
|
| 2013 | Finnish Open |  Dmytro Zavadsky
|
21–16, 21–12 | Winner
|
| 2015 | Swedish Masters |  Pablo Abián
|
21–15, 21–17 | Winner
|
- BWF International Challenge tournament
- BWF International Series tournament
National titles
[edit]- 2005 English U–19 Nationals men's singles Winner
- 2008 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2009 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2010 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2011 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2012 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2013 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2014 English Nationals men's singles winner
- 2016 English Nationals men's singles winner
Personal life
[edit]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
[edit]- ^ "Ranking History". Badminton World Federation.
- ^ Delhi 2010: Team - We Are England
- ^ The Complete Book of the Commonwealth Games, Graham Groom, 2013, pg 181 and 197
- ^ a b c "Glasgow 2014 – Rajiv Ouseph Profile". g2014results.thecgf.com. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ^ Badminton: Rajiv Ouseph takes silver at European Championships - BBC Sport
- ^ "Team GB stars seeded for Rio 2016 Games". Badminton England. 22 July 2016.
- ^ "Retired Champion: European title was my highlight".
- ^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
External links
[edit]
- Rajiv Ouseph at BWFBadminton.com
- Rajiv Ouseph at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (alternate link)
- Rajiv Ouseph at Olympedia
- Rajiv Ouseph at Olympics.com
- Rajiv Ouseph at Team GB
- Rajiv Ouseph at Team England
- Rajiv Ouseph at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Rajiv Ouseph at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Rajiv Ouseph at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 December 2018)
|
- 1986 births
- Living people
- People from Hounslow
- Sportspeople from the London Borough of Hounslow
- English people of Indian descent
- Sportspeople of Indian descent
- English male badminton players
- Alumni of Loughborough University
- Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic badminton players for Great Britain
- Badminton players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
- Badminton players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
- Badminton players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
- Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton
- Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
- 21st-century English sportsmen