2022 Basketball Africa League title winning coach Miodrag Perisic has rejoined the reigning champions, US Monastir for season three of the BAL.
Perisic who left after he led Monastir to victory in May 2022, joined Al Ittihad Alexandria of the Egyptian Basketball Super League one month later.
The Serbian was reportedly sacked four months later by the Alexandria Federation after the team’s exit from the Arab Basketball Club Championship in Kuwait where Al Ittihad lost in the quarter-final against Kazma of Kuwait, 101-106.
Perisic who is back for his second spell with the Tunisian club says he chose to return because it’s a team he knows very well.
“When I finished the season with Monastir last year I chose some other club then I had some family issues and I could not work for a couple of months,” Perisic revealed.
“The club asked me to rejoin because I know most of the players. I am very happy to be back.”
US Monastir will hope to become the first club to successfully retain their BAL title which they won in 2022.
But Perisic has refused to be drawn on whether Monastir can defend their title as he remained modest about his target.
“The best way to defend something is to be focused everyday and the best way is to try to win it game by game.
“Our main target is to go to Rwanda for the playoffs but we will try to defend the title. Our target now is to pass this stage,” said Perisic.
The Tunisian champions recorded their first win in the Sahara Conference as they dug deep to beat a resilient Stade Malien 78-68 on Sunday in Dakar.
Jerome Randle (18), Ibrahima Thomas (11), and Oussama Marnaoui (12) all combined for 41 points but Monastir turned the ball over 21 times.
US Monastir’s last defeat in the BAL was against Rwanda Energy Group (REG) on March 14, 2022 in the Sahara Conference at the Dakar Arena.
The reigning champions have since maintained a four-game winning streak with four games left in the Sahara Conference.
They will hope to keep the streak going when they play Kwara Falcons of Nigeria in their second game on Wednesday, 15 March.
Credit: AIPS Media
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