translate toupper case with read statement

hi

i amd doing as beloe

READ TABLE it_table INTO wa_table WITH KEY

cust = it_table-cust

status <> ' SELL'

now i want to translate the one field of the table status to upper case before this read or with this read statement as if i do it beofer it will be blank so i want to check it with read statement please suggest a way to do it

regards

arora