Rajiv Ouseph

Theratil Rajiv Ouseph (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
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. 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.

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.

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.

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. 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.