Paris (AFP)
The French basketball team will leave for China Tuesday with a group of 14 players without Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, dismissed from the group before the last week of preparation for the World Cup, said Saturday the French Federation (FFBB).
Coach Vincent Collet has postponed his choice between the two leaders Theo Maledon and Elie Okobo, one of whom should join the final group of twelve behind Andrew Albicy and Frank Ntilikina.
Maledon, 18, did not play the last match in France, won against Argentina (77-58) on Saturday at the Astroballe de Villeurbanne, because of a shoulder injury.
Okobo, named after the Thomas Heurtel forfeit (operated a partial rupture of the patellar tendon of the left knee) signed on Saturday his best match of the preparation (10 points).
The team lost inside Adrien Moerman, who gave up Saturday because of achilles tendon pain.
As expected since the start of preparation, the interior Alexander Chassang, present as a training partner, will not make the trip to China.
Collet has up to 48 hours before the first match of the Mondial-2019 against Germany, on September 1 in Shenzhen, to give its list of twelve players.
France will finish its preparation with an internship then a tournament in Shenyang (north of China) where it will face next weekend New Zealand, Italy and Serbia.
The group of 14:
Leaders: Andrew Albicy, Frank Ntilikina, Theo Maledon, Elie Okobo
Back-wingers: Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Axel Toupane, Paul Lacombe
Interiors: Rudy Gobert, Vincent Poirier, Mathias Lessort, Amath M'Baye, Louis Labeyrie
© 2019 AFP