Serbian Zoran Visic’s primary target is to ensure the Indian women’s national basketball team regains its place among the elite in Asia.

Visic, who was unveiled as the head coach of the women’s team on Friday, will face his first major challenge when the country lines up in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup here at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium from July 23 to 29. “We are now in Division B. Our target is to return to Division A. In my opinion India deserves this place. In the past two years, India has improved and they try to play basketball at a high level. This is a new age for basketball in India,” said Visic.

In Division B, India are pooled with Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka in Group A while Lebanon, Singapore, Kazakhstan and Fiji comprise Group B. Visic picked Lebanon as the biggest threat to India. “We hope to meet the Lebanese team in the final. We have the ability to beat Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan in league matches," he said.

Visic lauded the efforts of Shiba Maggon, assistant coach of the women’s team, for getting the team into shape before his arrival. “I have been here for the past two weeks but our national team started training in March. My assistant coaches Shiba and Paramdeep have done a great job. They started with the fundamentals and trained for 60 days and made my work easy,” said Visic.

“I have around eight weeks now. We (will) practice everyday. The girls have practiced at a high level and because of this I am optimistic,” added the Serbian. The 61-year-old believes playing friendlies will do a world of good before the event. “We are also preparing for Willam Jones Cup that is coming up in Chinese Taipei. It will be a good exposure for the team,” he said. Meanwhile, American Samoa has pulled out of the Asia Cup, who were in Group A, due to lack of funds. There will be no replacement.