Rajiv Ouseph


Theratil Rajiv Ouseph is a former 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. Ouseph became the first player to win more than four consecutive national singles titles since Darren Hall.
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 11 in Nov 2010 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.
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.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2018Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Gold Coast, Australia H. S. Prannoy17–21, 25–23, 21–9 Bronze
2010Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India Lee Chong Wei10–21, 8–21 Silver

European Championships

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2018Palacio de Deportes de Huelva, Huelva, Spain Viktor Axelsen8–21, 7–21 Silver
2017Sydbank Arena, Kolding, Denmark Anders Antonsen21–19, 21–19 Gold
2016Vendéspace, La Roche-sur-Yon, France Jan Ø. Jørgensen11–21, 16–21 Bronze
2014Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia Jan Ø. Jørgensen18–21, 10–21 Silver
2010Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England Jan Ø. Jørgensen14–21, 20–22 Bronze

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2005De Maaspoort, Den Bosch, Netherlands Dieter Domke15–0, 15–4 Gold

BWF World Tour

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Men's singles
YearTournamentLevelOpponentScoreResult
2018SaarLorLux OpenSuper 100 Subhankar Dey11–21, 14–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels: Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation since 2007.
Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2015U.S. Grand Prix Lee Hyun-il19–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2015Scottish Open Hans-Kristian Vittinghus19–21, 21–11, 16–21 Runner-up
2010U.S. Open Brice Leverdez21–17, 21–9 Winner

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2015Swedish Masters Pablo Abián21–15, 21–17 Winner
2013Finnish Open Dmytro Zavadsky21–16, 21–12 Winner
2013French International Flemming Quach21–15, 21–15 Winner
2012Finnish Open Henri Hurskainen21–18, 16–21, 21–18 Winner
2011Irish International Przemyslaw Wacha21–15, 11–5 Retired Winner
2011Scottish International Carl Baxter21–18, 21–10 Winner
2009Canadian International Carl Baxter21–11, 21–19 Winner
2009Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse Kashyap Parupalli21–11, 21–12 Winner
2008Irish International Scott Evans21–5, 21–19 Winner
2008Scottish International Anand Pawar21–17, 21–8 Winner
2007Dutch International Wu Yunyong16–21, 16–21 Runner-up

National titles

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