Hard work pays off for SAI

BANGALORE: Four of the five Karnatakaplayers who were part of the victorious Indian team at the Olympic qualifierslast Sunday thanked Sports Authority of India for their success in internationalhockey."Having worked under many coaches over the years, it is easy to ignore those who taught us the basics in SAI. But we are what we are only because of them," skipper Bharat Chetri told TOI.Chetri, VRRaghunath, SV Sunil and SK Uthappa are all products of SAI schemes, havingworked their way up from the grassroots under the guidance of ablecoaches.Chetri was a Dhanapur Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC)product who made giant strides after being picked for the Centre of Excellencescheme, launched by SAI in the 90s. SV Sunil is another ABSC boy who got histeeth into hockey at Maratha Light Infantry in Belgaum. Uthappa and Raghunathhail from the St Joseph's Indian High School assembly line who graduated to theSAI Training Centre (STC) at Akkithimmanahalli.