Rajiv Ouseph Quotes
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I was quite short and chubby until I was 14, when I shot up.
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I started playing badminton when I was probably of eight years and ever since have been playing. I didn't go to university.
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I've got quite a good poker face. I'm known for being able to keep my emotions very much in check: no one knows how I'm feeling. I can be winning or losing but keep it very much the same.
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Because my parents are Indian, everybody speaks Hindi to me, and I have no idea what they are saying.
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I'm lucky in that I can't see myself doing an office job every day. I'm lucky that I can play my sport and go around the world without too much to worry about outside that. I think it's good to be happy with what you're doing.
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If I'd had the chance, I'd like to have completed my degree before going full-time, and sports journalism was something that always interested me. Dad used to buy a paper, and I always turned straight to the sports pages.
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What we do is nothing like the portrayal of badminton as a gentle game played in a church hall. Badminton can be fun and relaxing, but as professionals, this sport is our heart and soul and passion, and our games are fast and aggressive.
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Obviously, you need talent to do well in your sport, but I think hard work goes a long way. You need to be lucky within the sport too, though. In badminton, you can benefit from good draws and people getting injured.
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I've always wanted to be in journalism. I even started a course at Loughborough doing media studies. I like all sports, and I am keen on writing. But I thought that while I was still young, I ought to make a real go of it at badminton. So I have put all my focus on playing sport instead of writing about it.
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There can be a lot of mind games going on between the players. When you're about to serve, people will try to throw you off your rhythm by taking a walk. If you're tired, you can't show that at all to an opponent.
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Some smashes have been timed at more than 250 mph, so you get less than a second to react. People who see a professional badminton match up close are always shocked at the speed.
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I think if people were to look at badminton and tennis, they'd see they're actually very similar; the profile would increase, and we might be in a better position as a sport.
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I think badminton has a real legacy with more youngsters taking up the sport. Badminton has done really well in that regard compared to other sports.
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In our sport, there's only two people, so if you're not winning, then you're losing.