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Anupam Sarkar played his first game for FC Adeli Batumi on Tuesday, March 17th against STU Tbilisi. He replaced Vazha Ivaniadze from Georgia in the 78th minute of the game to become the first Indian player to play in the Georgian Pirveli Liga.
In the process, he became the third Indian player to play a competitive game with an overseas club, the others being Baichung Bhutia who played with Bury FC and Sunil Chhetri who played with Sporting CP B-team. FC Adeli beat STU 6-0 to record their biggest win of the season in front of 200 spectators.
Sarkar was one of the five Indian players that went to a foreign club this season. The other Indians – Israil Gurung and Manish Maithani who went to Vitoria Guimaraes B, Renedy Singh who went to CSKA SOFIA and Romeo Fernandes who went to Atletico Paranaense – have yet to play a game for their new sides.
The 29-year-old Sarkar is primarily a defender and is currently on loan at the Georgia side. He started his career at East Bengal and has had spells at Mohammedan, Mohun Bagan, Prayag United and at FC Pune City in the ISL before making the switch abroad.
