Valiyaveetil Diju
Encyclopedia
Valiyaveetil Diju (born 4 January 1981) (or V. Diju) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

 player from Kozhikode
Kozhikode
Kozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...

, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

. He along with partner Jwala Gutta is the current National
Indian National Badminton Championships
The Indian National Badminton Championships is a tournament organized to crown the best badminton players in India since 1934.Until into the 1960s years were open the championships and also foreign players could play the championships. That is why the Dane Erland Kops is in the winner lists.-21st...

 mixed-doubles champions and the pair is currently ranked 7th in the world by Badminton World Federation.

Career

Diju started his career by representing Calicut University at All India University Championships. In 2002, he and Sanave Thomas won the Indian National Badminton Championships (doubles) at Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 by defeating Jaseel P. Ismail
Jaseel P. Ismail
Jaseel P. Ismail is a former badminton player from Kozhikode city of Kerala, India. He, arguably, is one of India's finest ever doubles players.-Career:...

 and Jaison Xavier in four games. He won the Bitburger Open Championship in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 along with Jwala Gutta. It was India's first mixed-doubles Grand Prix
World Badminton Grand Prix
The World Badminton Grand Prix was an annual badminton tournament organized by the International Badminton Federation to crown the best badminton player of the year. The tournament only invited the top eight players in the year-end world rankings. The tournament started in 1983, with the last...

 win. Diju is a four-time National mixed-doubles champion. In 2006, he won bronze medal in Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...

 at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. He has also won the National doubles title in 2002 with Sanave Thomas as the partner. Diju-Jwala pair was runner up at Indian Open held at Hyderabad in 2009. They lost to Indonesian Flandy Limpele
Flandy Limpele
Flandy Limpele is a male badminton player from Indonesia.- Career :A doubles specialist, at various times Limpele has focused on either men's doubles or mixed doubles during his long career in international badminton. His earliest appearances in the final rounds of major events came in mixed...

 and Vita Marissa
Vita Marissa
Vita Marissa is a female badminton player from Indonesia.- Career :Marissa competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in mixed double's with partner Nova Widianto. They had a bye in the first round and defeated Robert Blair and Natalie Munt of Great Britain in the second...

 in the final.

2009 World Badminton Championship
In August 2009, the Diju-Jwala mixed doubles pair became the first Indians to enter the quarterfinals of World Badminton Championship
BWF World Championships
The BWF World Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton World Federation to crown the best badminton players in the world....

. The Championships
2009 BWF World Championships
The 2009 BWF World Championships was the 17th tournament of the BWF World Championships, a global tournament in the sport of badminton. It was held at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, from August 10 to August 16, 2009...

 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 Mateusiak
Robert Bogumił Mateusiak is a male badminton player from Poland.-Career:Mateusiak competed in badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics, both times in men's doubles with partner Michał Łogosz....

 and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk
Nadiezda Kostiuczyk
Nadieżda Kostiuczyk is a female badminton player from Poland.-Career:Kostiuczyk played the 2007 BWF World Championships in mixed doubles with Robert Mateusiak. They were defeated in quarterfinals by Zheng Bo and Gao Ling of China, 16-21, 17-21. She also played women's doubles with Kamila Augustyn...

 21-11 22-20 in a 31-minute clash. In the quarterfinal they went down to defending champions and second seeds Nova Widianto
Nova Widianto
Nova Widianto is a male badminton player from Indonesia.- Career :Nova Widianto is one of the greatest doubles player in Indonesia National Team. Even though his best career come from the mixed doubles, but he also played well in men doubles. Widianto has specialized in mixed doubles...

 and Lilyana Natsir
Lilyana Natsir
Lilyana Natsir is a female badminton player from Indonesia who specializes in doubles. She is listed as one of the best mixed doubles player in the world. In Indonesia, she is often considered as the queen of mixed doubles sector thanks to her achievements with her two different pairs...

 of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. 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
BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix
The BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix is a third-level badminton tournament structure introduced by the Badminton World Federation . It is played in several countries a season and offers a minimum of US$120,000 prize money for a Grand Prix Gold event and minimum of US$50,000 prize money for a...

. They defeated Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

’s Hendra Gunawan
Hendra Aprida Gunawan
Hendra Aprida Gunawan is a male badminton player from Indonesia.-Career:Gunawan competes in men's doubles with Joko Riyadi. They were bronze medalists at the 2005 Asian Badminton Championships, runners-up at the 2006 Dutch Open, and bronze medalists at the 2007 Badminton at the Southeast Asian Games...

 and Vita Marissa
Vita Marissa
Vita Marissa is a female badminton player from Indonesia.- Career :Marissa competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in mixed double's with partner Nova Widianto. They had a bye in the first round and defeated Robert Blair and Natalie Munt of Great Britain in the second...

 24-22, 21-18 in the Chinese Taipei Open final. In the quartefinal, the world No. 7 pair and third seed in the tournament, defeated Korean
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 pair Shin Baek-Cheol and Yoo Hyun-Young and in the semi-final Diju and Gutta prevailed over Malaysians Liu Ying Goh and Peng Soon Chan 21-11, 17-21, 24-22.

2009 World Super Series Masters
In December 2009, Diju and his doubles partner Jwala reached the World Super Series Masters
BWF Super Series
The BWF Super Series is a badminton tournament introduced by Badminton World Federation in order to improve the quality of the sport. It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007...

 final in Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...

, Malaysia. They beat Robert Mateusiak
Robert Mateusiak
Robert Bogumił Mateusiak is a male badminton player from Poland.-Career:Mateusiak competed in badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics, both times in men's doubles with partner Michał Łogosz....

 and Nadieżda Kostiuczyk
Nadiezda Kostiuczyk
Nadieżda Kostiuczyk is a female badminton player from Poland.-Career:Kostiuczyk played the 2007 BWF World Championships in mixed doubles with Robert Mateusiak. They were defeated in quarterfinals by Zheng Bo and Gao Ling of China, 16-21, 17-21. She also played women's doubles with Kamila Augustyn...

 of Poland in straight-games 21-19 21-11. In the final the Indian pair went down to World Championship bronze medallists Christinna Pedersen and Joaquim Nielsen 21-14, 21-18.

Personal life

Diju was born at Ramanattukara
Ramanattukara
Ramanattukara is a census town in Kozhikode district in the Indian state of Kerala.-Demographics: India census, Ramanattukara had a population of 30,436. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Ramanattukara has an average literacy rate of 83%, higher than the national average of...

, in the Calicut district to Karunakaran and Lalitha. He did his schooling in Govt. Model Boys School, Thrissur
Thrissur
This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...

. He completed his graduation from Farook College
Farook College, Calicut
Farook College is a center of higher education in Kozhikode, a district of Kerala, India. Its creation marked a breakthrough in the renaissance of Kerala Muslims.- The beginning :...

, Calicut. He has an elder brother Dinu. Diju is currently working as HR manager in ONGC
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited is an Indian state-owned oil and gas company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is one of the largest Asia-based oil and gas exploration and production companies, and produces around 77% of India's total crude oil production and around 81% of...

, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

.

External links

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