pune some of indias best sportspersons including those still on the circuit like walker kt irfan and long jumper mayookha johny are ready to join the sports authority of india sai as coaches in the next few months according to informed sources a total of 16 olympians have been selected to join sai in the rank of assistant coach and a few of them have already joined the institution among those who have taken up the new job are indias fastest man anil kumar who was part of the 4x100m squad in the sydney olympics and rower kk paulose who competed in the 2004 athens games the two are now posted at the sai training centre in kollam and the sai special area games water sports centre in alappuzha as per the offer active sportspersons like irfan and mayookha can continue with their sports while drawing the pay and perks till they retire and don the coachs hat at sai centre once they hang up their boots the government organisation which is in the process of recruiting 200 coaches directly approached the olympians before posting them to various centres while mayookha has quit ongc irfan too has decided to part ways with armys 5madras regiment the paper work is on in both the cases and they will soon be relieved by their current employers they said other olympians who have accepted sais offer are all seasoned campaigners from boxing weightlifting and wrestling though not a gazetted post the job is still coveted by many as it promises an initial salary of rs 3000040000 the scheme to directly recruit olympians present and past as group b officers was announced by the then sports minister ajay maken during the london olympics last year going by the encouraging response of some of indias best talent sai can expect to attract some of the top performers maken had said that direct recruitment meant they were not required to appear for any written examination or meet any educational qualification those selected will also get a diploma from nis patiala before they get down to business