Tokyo (AFP)
The French women's 3x3 basketball team has laboriously won (22-18) against Mongolia, a weaker team in the group stage, its second victory in five matches and can glimpse the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament on Monday in Tokyo.
It is a very committed match physically, made unbreathable until the end, less by the ambient humidity than by the resistance displayed by the Mongols, that the Blue delivered to the Aomi Urban Sports Park.
A shoot behind the arc of Mamignan Touré, which had been little obvious until then, delivered the French, almost always in front of the score, but who saw their short lead of four points (14-10) melt at 18-18.
It took a double-not yet open missed by Chimeddolgor Enkhtaivan, for France to come away definitively in the last two minutes, while in front the rotation was no longer done since the injury to the leg of Solongo Bayasgalan, after a shock with Laetitia Guapo.
The latter was the most prolific in attack with 9 points registered, showing herself to the height of her status as the best player in the world, according to an individual ranking established by the International Federation (Fiba).
In the evening, France, 5th in the group stage, faces the formidable Russia, second with four wins in five matches.
The Blue must finish between 3rd and 6th place, if they want to play the qualifying play-offs for the last four.
© 2021 AFP