Rajiv Ouseph

[JoWright]

I'd just like to say a massive congratulations to Raj for becoming European Junior Mens Singles Champion at the weekend.

I don't often post on this site but I do read through it fairly often and I find that whenever someone does well there is virtually no mention of it. Everyone seems all to ready to criticise Badminton England (in some cases quite rightly) but I also think you should give praise when it's due and I think this is sometimes forgotten.

So well done again Raj!!!! :)

[slanter]

Totally in agreement - awesome performance by Raj and the other members of the squad.

Hope your eye is better Jo.

[Woody]

Jo

Well said.

These forums are full of people who want to have a go but are backwards about coming forwards when it gets down to praising people.

:D

[Phil McBride]

Well done to Raj for his gold but also to Callum on his bronze.

[redkingjoe]

I'd just like to say a massive congratulations to Raj for becoming European Junior Mens Singles Champion at the weekend.

I don't often post on this site but I do read through it fairly often and I find that whenever someone does well there is virtually no mention of it. Everyone seems all to ready to criticise Badminton England (in some cases quite rightly) but I also think you should give praise when it's due and I think this is sometimes forgotten.

So well done again Raj!!!! :)
Jo,
Welcome to badders.com. glad that you start posting...i totally agree with your comments...but i think the forum belongs to the public...all the posters and readers are a part of the forum...i really hope you can post more often to fill up the "hole" that you are talking


These forums are full of people who want to have a go but are backwards about coming forwards when it gets down to praising people.


btw1:as a side note(note:i'm a foreigner who is not raised with the brit's culture), does anyone know whether "giving praise" is not encouraged in the Brits tradition?(in the chinese culture, the traditional way for rasing kids is not to praise them)

btw2: when i read posts in this forum regarding Raj, i felt there's a little "divided feelings" toward him: it sounds to me that someone really doesn't seem to be happy with him even he does a lot (i mean in winning) for the brits...very strange!!! anyone konws why?

btw3: Raj is really great and i have posted in the Junior forum.

btw4: Bravo Raj

[SylviaPenn]

Well done Raj - always had faith in you! Sylvia and Mike Penn

[Debbie]

I agree with you Sylvia - Great result Raj and good to see the photos!
Good to hear from you after all this time.
I like to see whose writing the posts (real names!)- thanks Sylvia.

[AXC]

Jo,
Welcome to badders.com. glad that you start posting...i totally agree with your comments...but i think the forum belongs to the public...all the posters and readers are a part of the forum...i really hope you can post more often to fill up the "hole" that you are talking



btw1:as a side note(note:i'm a foreigner who is not raised with the brit's culture), does anyone know whether "giving praise" is not encouraged in the Brits tradition?(in the chinese culture, the traditional way for rasing kids is not to praise them)

btw2: when i read posts in this forum regarding Raj, i felt there's a little "divided feelings" toward him: it sounds to me that someone really doesn't seem to be happy with him even he does a lot (i mean in winning) for the brits...very strange!!! anyone konws why?

btw3: Raj is really great and i have posted in the Junior forum.

btw4: Bravo Raj

The British culture is to support the underdog and I think that Raj's ability is starting to move him away from being underdog so gets criticised. You only have to read our papers to see that the Brits like nothing better than bringing someone down to earth, usually by slagging them off for losing. Look at how Tim Henman is treated and he is the best tennis player we have had for ages!

Raj went to a training camp in India and I think this has made him a better, stronger player. Although he is clearly extremely gifted he must develop the killer instinct and strength to win matches when he is not playing well. I just hope that Raj does makes it to top level but the recent history of great English juniors making it as a senior is extremely poor.

Someone said a few years ago thet he could turn a natural athelete into a top badminton player, at the time I thought this was rubbish. However, I now believe that this is probably true. A strong quick player will beat a skillful player who does not have the speed and stamina. As Raj is a skillful player the temptatation to be lazy must be resisted.

[roots]

Out of any junior player in the last 6 or 7 years, Raj is by far the most promising. Which of our past juniors won the European Champs, let alone won the final 15-0 15-5 in under 20 minutes! Raj played in a tournament in Holland just after the Euros and lost 15-14 in the first end to one of Europe's top singles players, currently ranked no17 in the world. I know that he is not yet beating these players, but given 3 or 4 years i feel he will be one of the best mens singles players in Europe.

[redkingjoe]

The British culture is to support the underdog and I think that Raj's ability is starting to move him away from being underdog so gets criticised. You only have to read our papers to see that the Brits like nothing better than bringing someone down to earth, usually by slagging them off for losing. Look at how Tim Henman is treated and he is the best tennis player we have had for ages!

Raj went to a training camp in India and I think this has made him a better, stronger player. Although he is clearly extremely gifted he must develop the killer instinct and strength to win matches when he is not playing well. I just hope that Raj does makes it to top level but the recent history of great English juniors making it as a senior is extremely poor.

AXC,
1 thank you so much for your kind reply...very insightful...as a Brit(well, the queen gave me an UK passport in HK in 1997), i really need to know more about the Brit's culture...i think i'll retire in london

2 i thought that more ppls are especially harsh to Raj because he doesn't look like a Brit, even though Raj, on behalf of UK, has got a lot of flame internationally. it's not too nice to him.

3 i will urge ppls in the badder community to support him more...put down the tinted glasses

[redkingjoe]

very interesting article: Do you guys know how much support that Rajiv get before he can move up to the current heights in badminton? and where did he get those support from? will he be sponsored for the U study?

Rajiv soaring great heights in badminton




Sports have been a forte for the Malayalees back in India but achievements by Malayalees abroad have often gone unnoticed. Rajiv Ouseph’s successes in the field of badminton in the UK are a perfect example of this.

Rajiv is only 18 and he is currently ranked sixth in the senior English men’s singles and reached the quarterfinal of the Velo Dutch Senior International in April 2005.

In the Under 19 category Rajiv has won major titles and has stamped his superiority in this segment. Rajiv won the Under 19 English Masters title in April 2005, the Under 19 European Championship title in March 2005, the Under 19 German Internationals in February 2005, the Under 19 English Nationals in February 2005, semi-finalist at English Nationals in February 2005 and winner of the Young’s Wimbledon Challenger in January 2005.

His successes this year has definitely rocketed his rankings and he has himself set the scales higher now. Rajiv, from Thrissur in Kerala has been hitting the sports headlines recently with his superb performances in the UK and Europe. Excerpts from an exclusive interview to this website.


You won the Under 19 European Championship on March 29. It was also noted that the last time an English player won this title was in 1985. Could you please elaborate the significance of this win and how do you evaluate this success in your future career?
Winning the European juniors is a great achievement as it is a priority tournament for English junior players and is a very prestigious tournament among the European players.

Who is your coach and were you trained by anyone from India or Kerala? Have you represented India?

My coach is England is Steve Butler and I was coached in India by Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar. I have only represented England.

You also won the German Internationals. Can you please elaborate on the significance of this win?

This was a good tournament to win as it had a lot of top far eastern players in it, so my coaches were pleased I won it.

You also won the English nationals. Can you please elaborate on the significance of this win?

It was nice to win the English Nationals but I was expected to win it and have already won it once before.

How do you see these three wins in a row? What are your future prospects and what do you aim for?

These three wins make me feel confident about the future. My aims for future events are to get selected for the 2006 Commonwealth team and to win the English Nationals next year.

What are the factors which led you to be a successful badminton player?

My dad played club badminton when I was younger and I used to play with him in clubs and really enjoyed playing and carried on from there, so he was really the main factor in me taking up badminton.

Where did you do your studies and what course do you do and which university are you in at the moment?

I am in full time training at the moment but next year I will be studying at Loughborough University and I’ll be studying Economics with Politics.

Where are you from in Kerala and how often do you travel to Kerala and how do you see it different from Britain?

I come from Thrishur and visit once every three years or so, it is a very peaceful place and I really enjoy going back there as I can see all my relatives.

Do you follow cricket and whom do you see as the greatest team man in the present Indian cricket team?

I follow a lot of cricket and I think Virender Sehwag is the best player currently for India because he is so exciting to watch from a spectators point of view. But I really like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. For further information about Rajiv please visit his website www.ouseph.co.uk

source:(http://www.ukmalayalee.com/html/sports.html)

(PS: btw i post a similar post in the junior forrum, following the example of our SSSS, hohoho :D )

[PeteG]

btw2: when i read posts in this forum regarding Raj, i felt there's a little "divided feelings" toward him: it sounds to me that someone really doesn't seem to be happy with him even he does a lot (i mean in winning) for the brits...very strange!!! anyone konws why?


Joe, I think that part of the scepticism aimed at Raj is ever so slightly mis-aimed. What I mean by this is that England does not tend to have a great deal of success in international events (there's an article on one of the linkes here by Mr Dew-Hattens which goes into the differences between England and Denmark and bringing up talented players).

The problem in England, is that at the moment we aren't competing (well, not all the time). Aamir Ghaffar has had some good results: e.g. the recent match against Agus Hariyanto and his victory over Bao Chunlai, but hasn't had them consistently. From the looks of things, Raj is likely to be the next in line, on a long term basis, to succeed Aamir Ghaffar. Of course there are others and I'm not discounting them, but at the moment Raj is the youngest and therefore will have more time to improve than the rest as well as potentially more time at the top.

This would of course make him the standard bearer for English badminton, as AXC pointed out he's no longer and underdog, but this would also put him at the top of the tree so to speak (see criticism regarding Aamir Ghaffar). The point is, that most of the criticism is directed at English badminton's lack of success in the singles events, I don't think it is necessarily intended to be aimed at Raj, but he's the easiest target at the moment.

Sad to say though isn't it, but lets be honest, we weren't a power in tennis until Tim Henman suddenly showed up on the radar and personally I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't taken the fifth against Kafelnikov when he first emerged? Maybe things would have been different and we should be grateful for that. I'm not a big Henman fan, but thats more to do with his personality, or how it comes across. Just that I find it hard to get excited about it, even though he was Canadian I prefered Rusedski's heart on sleeve approach. In Henman's case, like I said I'm not a fan of his, but I do the amount of pressure and expectation is probably what stops him from winning Wimbledon. It drives him up to a point, but then I think it chokes him and thats because there's no "next in line" any more. Personally I would say he is the best (in my opinion) serve volley player in the world and could have won wimbledon a couple of times before. Even Sampras showed some rare emotion on beating him in one of their semi-final encounters because of the threat he posed!!

Anyway I'm digressing, so to link it to badminton, I think we suffered a similar fate post-Darren Hall, because when Colin Haughton eventually took the national title it was towards the end of his own career, so there has been a bit of a void for a while which would possibly account for some of the pessimism. Darren won it early and Raj now has the potential to do the same. Plus going abroad to get another perspective on the game has hopefully will help him in his future as a player.

Its great that he's won the European title as a junior, so let's give him chance to develop on the senior international stage and hopefully we'll see him succeed again in the future.