Personal life
Sannuvanda Kushalappa Uthappa is an Indian professional field hockey player. He was part of the Indian team which secured qualification to the 2012 London Summer Olympic games.Having joined Sports Authority of India, Uthappa has matured superbly as a player. Equipped with a keen hockey brain and the ability to scythe through the toughest of defenses, the Gonikoppal player left an indelible mark at every stage right from his school days at St. Joseph's Indian High School (SJIHS) .
| Full name | Sannuvanda Kushalappa Uthappa
| | Born | 2 December 1991 (age 23)
Coorg, Karnataka, India
| | Playing Position | Forward
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Years
| Team
| | 2011�present | IOCL
| | 2012�present | Karnataka Lions
| | 2013�present | Uttar Pradesh Wizards
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| 2012�present | India
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Career
Uthappa picked up the sport as a profession at the age of 8 after growing up watching his brother play hockey for Bangalore University. To his credit, Uthappa still holds the state record for scoring the highest no of goals (16) in 5 matches that he played for Coorg team at the age of 11 in the state level competition. He also guided the Coorg team to victory against the mighty Bangalore team ending the Bangalore team's 4 year winning streak. Uthappa was also a National level Basketballplayer where in he represented Karnataka team in the 49th National Basketball Championships held at Chennai in 2004.
Hockey India League
During his school days he also represented Coorg in events like badminton and football at the State Level competitions.
Choosing the sport which he loved the most he then moved to Bangalore eight years ago to continue his passion for Hockey at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center there. Uthappa was a product of the National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) scheme at SJIHS. He joined SAI and ever since has excelled as a player both for his college St. Joseph's College of Commerce and Bangalore University.In 2010 he captained Karnataka to Junior Nationals title victory in Pune, defeating hockey powerhouse Punjab in the final. He was adjudged the best player in the 2011 Senior National championship in Bhopal where Karnataka finished runners-up.
Debut
Uthappa made his international debut against South Africa on 16 January 2012 during the first match of the Karbonn Cup Hockey five-match test series. He scored a goal in his debut match at the 53rd minute mark. In that series, he featured in 4 matches, winning three, drew one and scored 3 goals in the process. He was also given a special award from Hockey India for scoring in his debut match.
2012 Olympics Qualifiers
Based on his performances against South Africa, Uthappa was selected to play in the 2012 Olympic Qualification Tournament. He went on to play in all 6 matches (5 group and 1 Finals) in the tournament scoring one goal in the first match against Singapore.
| Gold | Olympics Qualifiers 2012 New Delhi
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| Bronze | Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2012 Malaysia
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