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India’s Singh Gets Look From Heart
May 03, 2010

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Sydney. India football international Gouramangi Singh is to spend two weeks on trial for a contract with new Australian A-League club Melbourne Heart, officials said on Monday.

Singh, 24, will link up with Heart from June 7-19 in a bid to become the fourth Indian international to play for an overseas club.

The central defender played a pivotal role in India’s victorious 2008 AFC Challenge Cup campaign, helping his country to secure qualification to January’s Asian Cup in Qatar, where India has been drawn in the same groups as the Socceroos.

Dutch head coach John van’t Schip said he was looking forward to having the opportunity to gain an insight into Singh’s potential to adapt to the A-League.

“Indian football is very much an unknown quantity, but I am confident Gouramangi has the potential to make an impression here in Melbourne,” van’t Schip said in a statement.

“Despite his age, he is already an accomplished international footballer, having played in a number of important matches for India, including World Cup qualifiers,” he added.

“The club will have a close look at his ability and determine whether he is both capable of making the transition to the A-League and playing the football we want to play.”

Heart chief executive Scott Munn said he believed the move was an important first step in building closer ties between Australian and Indian football.

Singh, who has 21 international caps, clinched the “Best Defender” award as he helped lead Churchill Brothers SC to the 2008/09 I-League crown and qualification for the preliminary phase of the 2010 AFC Champions League.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast United will continue in A-League next season despite concerns over its financial survival, Football Fed eration Australia said on Monday.

After just one season, Gold Coast’s future was in doubt after the competition’s richest benefactor, Clive Palmer, considered pulling his financial backing from the club.

But the FFA said it had been informed by Palmer in writing of Gold Coast United’s ongoing participation in the A-League.

The expensively assembled club is home to Socceroo international Jason Culina and the competition’s leading scorer last season, Shane Smeltz.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said Gold Coast’s confirmation would bring stability to the competition, which has also been rocked by financial problems at North Queensland Fury.

“I am delighted that we are able to end any speculation and continue our planning for the sixth season of the A-League,” Buckley said in a statement.

  A-League

Agence France-Presse