Theratil Rajiv Ouseph (born 30 August 1986) is a former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

who represented both England and Great Britain in the international tournaments. Ouseph was the European Champion, winning in

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. Ouseph was born and brought up in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and is of Indian descent.

Career

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. 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 The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships ha ...

. He also represented England in the

Sudirman Cup The Sudirman Cup is an international badminton mixed team competition contested by member countries of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the inaugural ...

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

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 The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

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. Representing

Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics Great Britain, or in full Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016 and the team of selected athletes was off ...

in the men's singles event, he was defeated by bronze medalist

Viktor Axelsen Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player. He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. He won the 2010 World Junior Championships, beating South Korea's Kang Ji-wook in the final to become the ...

from Denmark in quarter finals.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Men's singles''

European Championships

''Men's singles''

European Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

BWF World Tour

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, 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. ''Men's singles''

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the

BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. ''Men's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Men's singles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament : BWF International Series tournament

National titles

* 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

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.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouseph, Rajiv 1986 births Living people People from Hounslow English people 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 of 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