Paris (AFP)

What is a feat if it remains in virtual anonymity? The President of the French Federation (FFBB) Jean-Pierre Siutat Monday regretted the low media interest around the World Basketball and the historic victory of the Blues against the Americans.

If he appreciates a "really positive result" after the bronze medal of the France team in China, the boss of the French basketball made an intervention full of anger, at a press point in Paris where the team is arrived Monday.

"I'd like to make two shots," Siutat said. "We regret that public channels are not interested in us more," he said, while a single game of the Blues was broadcast in clear on M6: the semifinal lost against Argentina (80-66).

The president, who has been fighting "for years" for more media consideration, would have liked the quarter-finals, theater of the exploit against the United States (89-79), to be broadcast on a public channel, and not only on Canal +. "It would have had more mouths".

The official also pinpointed the indifference of the French political world. "We were received by Xi Jinping (the Chinese president, ed), many heads of state moved, but the International Federation asked us why France was not represented at the level of the government," he said. -it belongs. "Here too we deserved our lighting".

Finishing second best European nation behind the Spanish world champions, France is qualified for the 2020 Olympics.

This did not prevent a new projection of Jean-Pierre Siutat, claiming more time between matches for better physical recovery.

"With one more day of rest and preparation, we would have been able to challenge the Argentines," he said. "We may have missed something extraordinary."

© 2019 AFP