Rajinder Singh appointed Indian men's basketball coach

Zoran Visic, India's women's team coach who had taken over the men's team for the first two qualifiers last November, will not be directly in charge but will just oversee the preparations.

A file photo of Indian basketball team (in blue) in action.

The Indian men's basketball team will have a new coach before the team embarks for the Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast, Australia) in early April, confirmed Chander Mukhi Sharma, the BFI Secretary General.

For the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers against Jordan and Lebanon next week here, Zoran Visic, India's women's team coach who had taken over the men's team for the first two qualifiers last November, will not be directly in charge but will just oversee the preparations. Rajinder Singh has been appointed the Head Coach for the two matches.

“In accordance to the Government of India guidelines, we have recommended one foreign coach and two strength and conditioning coaches' names (one each for the men's and women's team),” said Sharma.

“A committee is expected to be formed next week, latest by February 20 and we hope to have the new coach in place before the CWG.”

The BFI also announced the formation of a core group of 32 players from which teams for all upcoming matches, including CWG and Asian Games, will be chosen. In the 12 who have been picked to face Jordan and Lebanon, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi is missing, as he is set to tie the knot on February 24. Akilan Pari will miss the match against Lebanon for the same reason.