Basketball: two packages with the training partners of the Blues

Two last minute adjustments for the staff of the French basketball team. While the players are already arriving in Pau to pass the traditional medical tests, four days before the first sessions, on the 28th, Vincent Collet lost two of his training partners, Jaylen Hoard and Ousmane Dieng, as reported by the French Federation (FFBB) this Monday evening. They are injured and must forfeit. Yves Pons and Matthew Strazel have been called in to make up for their absence. Two players who have never worn the colors of the France team.

Recall that the staff unveiled a group of 12 players for the World Cup (August 25-September 10) at the end of June, with five training partners. Players who are “not necessarily intended to compensate” one or more packages among the 12.

“They really are sparring partners. Afterwards, it depends on when an injury could occur and what said training partners will show. They can come in the race for a possible replacement if they are very good for 10 days. But that's not what was originally planned. We would rather call on players who are not among the 12 but who are in a list of 24, the one that you do not know but that we must transmit to Fiba. (...) The training partners are not all in the list of 24. (...) We will keep one or even two for the final preparation in Asia, ”indicated Collet in June. The other sparring partners? Joel Ayayi, Hugo Benitez and Bodian Massa.

After the first training sessions on Friday, the Blues will face Tunisia next Monday in Pau. The first of their seven preparation matches before the World Cup, where they will successively face Canada, Latvia and Lebanon in the first round, before crossing with the group of Spain and Brazil in the second.