CMR - Adingono re-appointed Cameroon head coach

YAOUNDE (Afrobasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Lazare Adingono will be the head coach of Cameroon's men's national team at this summer’s AfroBasket, while Frenchman Michel Perrin will become the technical director of the team.

The decision ends weeks of speculations on the team's coaching staff ahead of continental championship.

This will be Adingono's third experience with Cameroon since the 2007 AfroBasket, although he missed the 2009 edition of the tournament in Libya when head coach Joseph Touomou led the team to a fourth-place finish.

At the tournament in Angola in 2007, Adingono helped his native country to finish runners-up - Cameroon's best result - and end a more than two decades of absence from the championship.

Cameroon came in seventh two years ago in Madagascar.

Last year, Perrin took Cameroon to a training camp in China before they finished second in the qualifying tournament held in Bangui, Central African Republic.

Samuel Nduku, the President of Cameroon Basketball Federation (FECABASKET) told FIBA.com why they chose Adingono.

"We decide to give Adingono the job simply because we believe that he is able to qualify our national team to the World Cup," he said.

The 2013 AfroBasket is to take place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 20 to 31 August. The teams that finish in the top three of the tournament will qualify for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

Cameroon's only appearance on the world basketball stage was at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Athens, Greece. They lost both games they played, to Croatia and Puerto Rico.

Now, Nduku says it is time to return to the big stage.

"We have quality players that can help us play against the best teams in the world," he explained.

Adingono is the current head coach of Angolan club Petro de Luanda - a team that he helped win the Angolan Cup this season. His coaching experience includes serving as an assistant at Canisius College and being in charge of Moroccan club AS Sale.

Meanwhile, Nduku explained FECABASKET's immediate tasks.

"Adingono is already in Cameroon and I am going to meet him next week to discuss our objectives at the Afrobasket," he said.

"I will be travelling to France in the next few days to meet French Basketball Federation officials and try to negotiate the release of some French-Cameroonian players to play for us."

Cameroon have been drawn in Group D of the AfroBasket alongside Nigeria, Mali and the Republic of Congo.

FIBA