bangalore fourteen years of selfless service for the country and a mammoth 262 national and internationals medals later jose jacob is an unhappy man the dronacharyawinning rowing coach with his vast experience in producing champion rowers over the decade has been patiently living with the tag of a contractual coach employed by the sports authority of india sai there is news that the previous central government has closed permanent appointments jacob told toi but im not giving up hope my contract ends in january and will be up for renewal ill keep trying keep pushing my case till i get what is rightfully due to me jacobs 14year stint with the odisha rowing association at the jagatpur centre in cuttack has produced stellar results for both the state and country his wards pramila prabha minz and pratima puhan won indias maiden womens bronze medal in coxless pairs event at the 2010 asian games in guangzhou china apart from producing 24 nationallevel rowers and 20 international medallists from odisha the 51yearold also led the state to 13 national championship titles the future though holds promise his salary a meagre rs 23000 has now virtually doubled until 2008 i used to get rs 10000 a month which was marginally hiked later last month sai dg jiji thomson spoke to me and promised to look into my case thanks to him my salary now has increased to rs 45000 from october theyve also promised to help push my permanent employment request with the centre this is a great positive step jacob said jacob joined the madras engineers group meg in bangalore in 1983 as a promising basketball player but was gradually inducted into the rowing team in 1990 he began coaching the sappers team and retired a decade later with no opportunities in kerala jacob and his family shifted base to odisha in 2000 after receiving an offer from the state association the softspoken coach is currently in his hometown of athirampuzha in kottayam kerala as his friends panchayat and local church community have planned a felicitation for his dronacharyawinning feat all these years i got offers from various private clubs with big money to join them but i turned them all down in the hope that i can get a permanent job with sai i still dont regret it i will wait as long as it takes my mission is to produce an olympic medalwinner from odisha jacob said