The Basketball Federation of India on Monday roped in Veselin Matic as the new head coach of the Indian men’s basketball team, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
Zoran Visic, who was earlier in charge of both the men’s and women’s national sides will continue with the women’s team after the recruitment of Visic took over the men’s side for the FIBA World Cup and the Asian qualifiers after taking over following a poor run during the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
The Serbian will be tasked with turning around the fortunes of the men’s national team as well as sort an alleged rift among the group of players.
He brings in a wealth of experience, having last coached the Syrian national team. The veteran had also helped Iran qualify for their maiden World Championship in 2010 after winning the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship. That was followed by a bronze medal finish at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. The 58-year-old has also coached national teams such as Poland and Lebanon.
Matic is expected to land in India by the end of April and the BFI wants him to conduct regular zonal camps.
“Our plan is for him to conduct regular zonal coaching camps apart from clinics for our coaches,” said BFI secretary-general Chander Mukhi Sharma was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
“The problem we face is that each zone has its own coaching systems and when players meet for national camps, we lose a lot of time in getting them to adapt to one system. We want to establish a uniform coaching pattern throughout the country.”
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