Valiyaveetil Diju (born 4 January 1981), also known as V. Diju, is an Indian badminton player from

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. He clinched six

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

title, once in the men's doubles and five times in the mixed doubles. He represented India in the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, became the first Indian player to participate at the Olympics in the mixed doubles alongside

Jwala Gutta Jwala Gutta; family names traditionally precede personal names in Indian name#Telugu, Telugu naming customs (born 7 September 1983) is an Indian badminton player. Beginning in the late 1990s, she represented India at international events in bo ...

. He is the winner of

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

2014, given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, government of India to recognize his outstanding achievement in National sports. He is also the winner of

G. V. Raja Lt. Col. P. R. Godavarma Raja (13 October 1908 – 30 April 1971), often referred to as G. V. Raja, was an Indian sports and tourism promoter and administrator, pilot, sportsman and Sanskrit scholar . He took special care in inspiring the youth ...

awards, which is the highest government-level recognition for sports persons in Kerala. He is winner of Jimmy George award 2014. He is also winner of Vivekanandha sports excellence award 2014. He won the Youth excellence award also in 2014.He is the only mixed doubles player from India to reach top 10 in the world badminton ranking(BWF) .His highest ranking is number 6th in world ranking.

Career

Diju started his International career by representing India for Asian junior badminton championship held at Hong Kong in 1997. In 2002, he and Sanave Thomas won the men's doubles title at the Indian National Championships by defeating

Jaseel P. Ismail Jaseel P. Ismail (born 16 September 1972) is an Indian former badminton player from Kozhikode, Kerala, who is known for his doubles performances. Career During his long career, Jaseel won five doubles titles at Indian National Badminton Cham ...

and Jaison Xavier in four games. He won the 2008 Bitburger Open in Germany along with Jwala Gutta. It was India's first mixed-doubles

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

win. Diju is a five-time National mixed-doubles champion. In 2006, he won the mixed team bronze medal in Commonwealth Games at Melbourne. Diju-Gutta pair was runner-up at Indian Open held at Hyderabad in 2009. They lost to Indonesian

Flandy Limpele Flandy Limpele (born 9 February 1974) is an Indonesian former badminton player and coach. He competed in four Summer Olympic Games: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008. Career Player A doubles specialist, at various times ...

and

Vita Marissa Vita Marissa (born 4 January 1981) is an Indonesian retired badminton player. Career Marissa competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in mixed doubles with partner Nova Widianto. They had a bye in the first round and defeated Rober ...

in the final. ; 2009 World Badminton Championship In August 2009, the Diju-Gutta mixed doubles pair became the first Indians to enter the quarterfinals of

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. The

Championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

was held at Hyderabad, India. The duo, seeded 8th, got a bye in the first round followed by a walkover in the second. In the third round they defeated 12th seed polish pair of

Robert Mateusiak Robert Bogumił Mateusiak (born 13 January 1976) is a Polish retired badminton player. Career Łogosz and Mateusiak won bronze medals at the European Championships in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. Partnered with Nadieżda Zięba in the mixed ...

and Nadieżda Kostiuczyk 21–11, 22–20 in a 31-minute clash. In the quarter-final they went down to defending champions and second seeds

Nova Widianto Andreas Nova Widianto (born 10 October 1977) is an Indonesian former badminton player. He is currently the Indonesia national team mixed doubles head coach. Career Nova Widianto is considered one of the greatest doubles player in his era. He i ...

and

Liliyana Natsir Liliyana Natsir (born 9 September 1985) is an Indonesian former badminton player who specialized in doubles. She is one of the standout front court player, with dexterousness and skill in controlling and executing the shuttlecock. Natsir has tre ...

of Indonesia. The Indian pair was beaten 16–21, 14–21 in 27 minutes. ; Chinese Taipei Grand Prix On 30 August 2009, Diju partnering Jwala Gutta became the first Indian badminton mixed doubles pair to win a Grand Prix Gold title. They defeated

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

's Hendra Aprida Gunawan and

24–22, 21–18 in the

Chinese Taipei Open The Taipei Open, formerly named the Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold (2007–2017) and Chinese Taipei Open (2018–2019), is an open badminton international championships held in Taiwan since the 1970s, but they took place only in irregular pe ...

final. In the quarter-final, the world No. 7 pair and third seed in the tournament, defeated South Korean pair

Shin Baek-cheol Shin Baek-cheol (Hangul: 신백철; born 19 October 1989) is a mixed and men's doubles badminton player from South Korea. He is a World, Asian and World Junior Champions, as well a gold medalists in the Asian Games and Summer Universiade. Care ...

and Yoo Hyun-Young and in the semi-final Diju and Gutta prevailed over Malaysians

Goh Liu Ying Goh Liu Ying (born 30 May 1989) is a Malaysian badminton player. She has been consistently ranked among the top 10 mixed doubles player in the world with her partner, Chan Peng Soon. Together, they were ranked as high as world No. 3. They won ...

and Chan Peng Soon 21–11, 17–21, 24–22. Dijujwala

; 2009 World Super Series Masters In December 2009, Diju and his doubles partner Gutta reached the World Superseries Masters final in

Johor Bahru Johor Bahru (), colloquially referred to as JB, is the capital city of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is located at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia,along the north bank of the Straits of Johor, opposite of the city-state Singapore. T ...

, Malaysia. They beat

and Nadieżda Kostiuczyk of Poland in straight-games 21–19, 21–11. In the final the Indian pair went down to World Championship bronze medalists Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 14–21, 18–21. ; 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games In 2010, Diju won the silver medal in Commonwealth Games in the mixed team event. He participated at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

in Guangzhou. Diju and Gutta pair reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships for the second consecutive year beaten by Koreans Ko Sung-hyun and Ha Jung-eun 21–16, 21–19 having beaten the English pair of

Chris Adcock Christopher Thomas Adcock (born 27 April 1989) is a retired English badminton player. Adcock is currently sponsored by Yonex and YC Sports and plays for the University of Nottingham-based NBL team. He entered the National team in 2006, and late ...

and

Gabrielle White Gabrielle Marie Adcock (née White; born 30 September 1990) is an English retired badminton player. Career Gabby started playing badminton aged 10 in the badminton club at her school and became a full-time player straight from school at 16. S ...

and Malaysians Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon in straight games and overcoming Chayut Triyachart and

Yao Lei Yao Lei (born 24 February 1990) is a Chinese-born Singaporean former badminton player. Early life In 2003, as a 13-year-old Yao emigrated to Singapore under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Her parents Yao Yiping and Gu Xiaojing were both ...

from Singapore in the pre-quarters in three games. The pair also won the 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold for their second Grand Prix Gold title beating Triyachart and Lei in three games. ; 2011 Ranchi National Games winner In 2011, Diju and Gutta reached the quarter-finals or better at three tournaments including two Super Series Premieres events at Denmark Open and China Masters where they reached the semi-finals, their first since 2009. They beat second seeded Chinese pair of Tao Jiaming and

Tian Qing Tian Qing (; born 19 August 1986) is a Chinese badminton player specializing in doubles. Career Tian Qing started to practice badminton with her father Tian Jianyi who also a badminton coach in Anhua Sports School at aged 7. In 1998, she move ...

in the first round 5–21, 21–14, 21–18. ; 2012 London Olympics Diju started his Olympic campaign pairing

in mixed doubles. However they lost their opening match 16–21, 12–21 in just 25 minutes at the Wembley Arena in London. ; G.V Raja Award Government of Kerala announced him as the recipient of

G.V. Raja Lt. Col. P. R. Godavarma Raja (13 October 1908 – 30 April 1971), often referred to as G. V. Raja, was an Indian sports and tourism promoter and administrator, pilot, sportsman and Sanskrit scholar . He took special care in inspiring the youth ...

awards for 2012–13.

Achievements

South Asian Games

BWF Superseries Finals

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

(BWF) since 2007. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983. : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

IBF International

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF Future Series The BWF Future Series is a grade 3 and level 3 tournaments part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and International Series (level 2), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

Personal life

Diju was born at Ramanattukara, in the Calicut district to Karunakaran and Lalitha on 4 January 1981. He did his schooling in Govt. Model Boys School,

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

. He completed his graduation from Farook College, Calicut. Diju is currently working as Chief Manager in

ONGC The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the ...

, Chennai. He is married to Dr. Soumya on 16 September 2012. Diju and Soumya have a son Ivaan, who born 16 February 2017. Diju has an elder brother Dinu.

References

External links

*
We stuck to our natural game: Exclusive interview to espnstar.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diju, Valiyaveetil 1981 births Living people People from Kozhikode district Racket sportspeople from Kerala Malayali people Indian male badminton players Indian national badminton champions Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of India Badminton players at the 2006 Asian Games Badminton players at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India Badminton players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games silver medalists for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award South Asian Games medalists in badminton