Olympic silver medallist Gail Emms is full of praise for Hounslow’s Rajiv Ouseph, even if she admits he will need Lady Luck on his side to make a splash at Rio 2016.

Ouseph has long been the number one British men’s singles badminton player, winning the national title in eight of the last nine years.

However, he has found it difficult to transfer his domestic form over to the international stage, failing to advance from his group at London 2012.

And as he bids to ensure lightning doesn’t strike twice at Rio 2016, Emms – who won Olympic silver alongside Nathan Robertson at the 2004 Athens Games – admits Ouseph faces a struggle to battle for medals, even if she is constantly impressed with him on court.

“Men’s singles is ridiculously hard – it is scarily hard – and it is frustrating because Rajiv is such a beautiful player to watch,” she said.

“He is such a chilled out player and he picks the most beautiful angles and you want him to do well.

“But the men’s singles is ridiculously hard and he will need a lot of luck but anything can happen.

“I think London 2012 will be on his mind and he will want to do better this time around.

“It is really hard on that front because you do forget things and won’t think about it while he is playing but he will want to how that he can play better and on his day he can match the best.”

Emms knows just how good Ouseph is as she plays alongside him for Team Derby in the AJ Bell National Badminton League.

The duo helped Team Derby finish fourth in the regular season and now face table-toppers Loughborough Sport on Sunday May 8 in Finals Day at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena.

The other semi-finals pits University of Nottingham against Birmingham Lions and Emms admits the final destination of the title is anyone’s guess.

“I have no idea if Team Derby will win it,” she added. “I should have a media-friendly answer ready to go but I genuinely have no idea who is going to win.

“The thing with the AJ Bell NBL is there have been so many times when I have looked at results and I’ve thought ‘what? How has that happened?’

“I have lost matches that I should have won, I have won games that I should have lost and when you have results like that then you could almost put all of the teams down on a piece of paper, close my eyes and just point to pick a winner.

“It could be us, Loughborough Sport, University of Nottingham or Birmingham Lions. We will give it our best shot and see what happens.”

Support your local teams and badminton stars in their bid for title glory at the AJ Bell National Badminton Finals Day – The Ultimate Smashdown on Sunday 8 May at the Barclaycard Arena. For tickets and information, visit www.nationalbadmintonleague.co.uk