DAMASCUS (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - Syria will be helmed by veteran international head coach Veselin Matic at the Asian Qualifiers starting this November.

The Serbian-born Matic has been coaching since 1988, bouncing all over the world starting in his native land and then finding himself in Polant, Lebanon and Iran. He has been actually been a familiar face in Asian basketball, last coaching the Lebanese national team at the FIBA Asia Cup 2015 in Changsha-Hunan, China.

His coaching resume is dotted with successes and highlights, too. He was part of the coaching staff of Serbia and Montenegro when they won the FIBA Basketball World Cups in 1998 and 2002, and he guided Iran to their second FIBA Asia Cup title in 2009 and their bronze medal finish at the Asian Games 2010 in Guangzhou.

The 57-year-old Matic will lead a Syrian team that finished fourth at the West Asia Basketball Association Championship 2017 in Amman, Jordan and placed tenth at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon. He will likely lean on veteran Micheal Madanly, naturalized player Ivan Todorovic and rising stars Omar Cheikh-Ali and Tarek Al Jabi at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers that begin next month.

Syria are in Group C together with Lebanon, Jordan and India. Matic's squad will begin their Asian Qualifiers campaign against Jordan on 23 November before traveling to Bengaluru to play India on 26 November.

FIBA