Introduction
Theratil Rajiv Ouseph (born 30 August 1986) 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 (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 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
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|
European Championships
Men's singles
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|
European Junior Championships
Boys' singles
| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|
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 (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely 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
| Year | Tournament | Level | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | SaarLorLux Open | Super 100 | Subhankar Dey | 11–21, 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 (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
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| 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
National titles
- 2016 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2014 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2013 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2012 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2011 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2010 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2009 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2008 English Nationals Men's Singles Winner
- 2005 English U19 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.