Valiyaveetil Diju

Career

Diju started his International career by representing India for Price Asian junior badminton championship held at Hong Kong in 1997. In 2002, he and Sanave Thomas won the Indian National Badminton Championships (doubles) at Lucknow by defeating Jaseel P. Ismail and Jaison Xavier in four games. He won the Bitburger Open Championship in Germany along with Jwala Gutta. It was India's first mixed-doubles Grand Prix win. Diju is a four-time National mixed-doubles champion. In 2006, he won bronze medal in Commonwealth Games at Melbourne. 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 and Vita Marissa in the final.

In August 2009, the Diju-Jwala mixed doubles pair became the first Indians to enter the quarterfinals of World Badminton Championship. The Championships 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 and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21-11 22-20 in a 31-minute clash. In the quarterfinal they went down to defending champions and second seeds Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia. The Indian pair was beaten 16-21, 14-21 in 27 minutes.

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’s Hendra Gunawan and Vita Marissa 24-22, 21-18 in the Chinese Taipei Open final. In the quarterfinal, the world No. 7 pair and third seed in the tournament, defeated Korean 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.

In December 2009, Diju and his doubles partner Jwala reached the World Super Series Masters final in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. They beat Robert Mateusiak and Nadieżda Kostiuczyk 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.

In 2010, Diju won the Silver medal in Commonwealth Games with his mixed doubles partner Gwala Gutta.

Diju started his Olympic camapign pairing Jwala Gutta in mixed doubles. However they lost their opening match 16-21, 12-21 in just 25 minutes at the Wembley Arena in London Olympics.

Government of Kerala announced him as the recipient of G.V. Raja awards for 2012–13.

Their breakthrough came when Diju and his partner Jwala became the first Indian badminton mixed doubles pair to win a Grand Prix Gold title. They defeated Indonesia's Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Vita Marissa 24–22, 21–18 in the Chinese Taipei Open final. In the quarterfinal, the world No. 7 pair and third seed in the tournament, defeated Korean pair Shin Baek-cheol and Yoo Hyun-Young and in the semi-final Diju and Gutta prevailed over Malaysians Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon 21–11, 17–21, 24–22.

But the biggest achievement came in the same year where Diju and Jwala again reached the quarters of the 2009 BWF World Championships and became the first Indians to do so repeating the feat at The Championships the following year. The Championships were 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 and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21–11 22–20 in a 31-minute clash. In the quarterfinal they went down to defending champions and second seeds Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia. The Indian pair was beaten 16–21, 14–21 in 27 minutes.

The same year they went on to reach the finals of the BWF Super Series Masters Finals, an annual tournament held at the end of every year where only the top players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series compete. They beat Robert Mateusiak and Nadieżda Kostiuczyk again in straight-games 21–19 21–11. In the final the Indian pair went down to World Championship bronze medallists Christinna Pedersen and Joachim Fischer Nielsen from Denmark 21–14, 21–18. By reaching the tournament finals they became the first Indians to reach the feat in any of the 5 disciplines.

In 2010 the pair reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships for the second consecutive year beaten by Koreans Ha Jung-eun and Ko Sung-hyun 21–16, 21–19 having beaten the English pair of Gabrielle White and Chris Adcock and Malaysians Liu Ying and Peng Soon in straight games and overcoming Yao Lei and Chayut Triyachart from Indonesia 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 Lei and Triyachart in three games.[43] In 2011 Gutta and Diju 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 in the first round 5–21, 21–14, 21–18.[44]

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. He completed his graduation from Farook College, Calicut. Diju is currently working as Deputy Manager in ONGC, Chennai. He is married to Dr. Soumya on 16 September 2012 .Diju and Soumya have a son Ivaan . who born 16th February 2017. Diju has an elder brother Dinu.