France load up with talent and experience for Tokyo

PARIS (France) - Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier will spearhead France's bid for Olympic glory after being named in the 12-man squad for the Tokyo Games.

Leaders in the team that finished third at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China, Gobert and Fournier will be joined by a trio of veterans that competed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics five years ago. Nicolas Batum, Thomas Heurtel, Nando de Colo and Gobert were in the team that reached the Quarter-Finals of the Games in Brazil.

Andrew Albicy will make his Olympic bow for the French. Albicy was crucial at the World Cup, especially in the Quarter-Final win over the USA, and in the Third Place Game triumph over Australia.

Another player appearing at the Olympics for the first time is Frank Ntilikina, a standout in China for the French team.

France, who are led by long-time national team coach Vincent Collet, will compete in Group A against the United States, Iran and the Czech Republic, who are coming off the high of beating Canada and then Greece to win the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria.

Les Bleus' first game will be against the USA on July 25. They have a couple of warmup games coming up this week and both are against Spain. They meet in Malaga on June 8 and then in Paris on June 10.

The French team last reached the podium at the Olympic in Sydney 21 years ago, when they claimed the silver medal. After missing the next two Summer Games, France returned to the competition in 2012 and reached the last eight before falling to Spain.

In 2016, after winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the Philippines, France took part in the Rio Games and advanced from the Group Phase before falling once again to Spain in the Quarter-Finals.

FIBA