Bosnia’s Mladen Ostojic, the new head coach of the national basketball teams, will be tasked with revamping the national squads, according to Oman Basketball Association (OBA).
Ostojic took charge after quitting of Serbian coach Marco Ku Rovek who failed to register top results with the national team for the last few years.
Ghassan al Busaidi, the technical manager of the national teams, said the selection of the Bosnian coach came after reviewing many applications for job.
“The new coach has a wide experience in coaching the junior teams which is one of the main focus for the OBA in the upcoming period,” the OBA ofiicial said.
“The first assignment which is addressed for the head of the technical staff of the national team is taking part in the Under-15 GCC Basketball Championship which is scheduled to be held in August in Manama city, Bahrain,” Al Busaidi told Observer.
The former coach of Montenegro and the UAE will soon take over and lead a national training camp.
Ostojic was born in 1957 and he managed many teams including: Ibar Rozaje (Montenegro), Morog (Libya), Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)and Olympiacos (Greece).
Twenty-six players from clubs including Seeb, Al Ittifaq, Dhofar, Salalah, Ahli Sidab and Bausher will join the warm-up sessions. The players were selected from the junior league that concluded recently. Some short camps during the weekends and students vacation period are also planned.
The technical manager said the initial list of players given to the head coach could also see some changes.
“The new head coach will make the required changes in the list. He will concentrate on choosing the potential players (who are born in 2005-06) and there will be basketball clinics to select the talented players.”
Al Busaidi said the Bosnian coach could need some more time to be familiar with the players.
“The results will come but we have to give enough time to the head coach to make his impact on the team. We expect some changes to develop the technical performance of players to achieve better results,” he added.
The OBA implemented some initiatives during the last session of the board to form strong junior teams by establishing some centres for the junior players.
Also, the OBA benefited from the Ministry of Sports Affairs programme for the junior training centres as many players graduated from these centres.
“We are cooperating very closely with the Ministry to provide a better platforms for the talented players and equip them with the technical basics and tactical skills,” he concluded.
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