Paris (AFP)

The French basketball players will face the United States, triple reigning Olympic champions, from the group stage of the Olympic tournament in Tokyo (23 July-8 August), according to the draw made Tuesday morning in Mies (Switzerland), at the headquarters of the International Federation (Fiba).

Bronze medalists at the 2019 World Championship in China, Vincent Collet's players will find the Americans, whom they had beaten in the quarterfinals of the 2019 World Cup.

Like the French women's team which also inherited Team USA in its group at the Olympics-2020.

The Blues will also face Iran, as well as the winner of the qualifying tournament which will be played at the end of June and early July in Victoria, Canada, with in particular Greece of the double MVP 2019 and 2020 of NBA Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Canada.

To qualify for the quarter-finals, the French will have to take one of the first two places in this group, or finish among the two best thirds of the three groups of this first round.

The men's Olympic tournament is due to start on Sunday, July 25, three days after a possible decisive Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

French basketball players will play the Games in Japan for the third time in a row this summer.

In London-2012 and Rio-2016, they stopped in the quarter-finals, beaten each time by Spain (66-59 in 2012 and 92-67 in 2016).

In Tokyo, a draw will be made at the end of the group stage, to constitute the final table (quarters, semi-finals and final).

The first three and the best runner-up will be seeded, and two teams from the same group will not be able to compete in the quarter-finals.

Composition of groups:

Group A: Iran, France, United States, TQO winner played in Victoria (Greece, China, Canada, Uruguay, Czech Rep., Turkey)

Group B: Australia, TQO winner played in Split (Germany, Russia, Mexico, Tunisia, Croatia, Brazil), TQO winner played in Belgrade (Dominican Rep., New Zealand, Serbia, Puerto Rico, Italy, Senegal), Nigeria

Group C: Argentina, Japan, Spain, TQO winner played in Kaunas (Lithuania, South Korea, Venezuela, Poland, Slovenia, Angola)

© 2021 AFP