Veselin Matic, who took Iran to an Asian Games bronze medal in 2010, is set to be appointed as the new head coach of the Indian men’s basketball team.
The Serbian’s name had been cleared by the sports ministry last week, BFI secretary-general Chander Mukhi Sharma stated here on Sunday, with only a few formalities left to be completed. He is expected to arrive by end of April.
A veteran international coach, Matic helped Iran qualify for its first ever World Championship (2010) with victory in the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship.
The 58-year-old has also coached the Polish and Lebanese national teams, and was last with Syria.
“Our plan is for him to conduct regular zonal coaching camps apart from clinics for our coaches,” said Sharma.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Zoran Visic, who previously had taken charge of both the men’s and women’s teams, will return to coaching the latter.
His appointment was expected to be confirmed soon by the sports ministry, said Sharma.
