FRA - Tony is the one who is hurting the most

SENDAI (FIBA World Championship) - France head coach Claude Bergeaud revealed he felt more sorry for Tony Parker than for anyone else on the French team as the playmaker pulled out of the FIBA World Championship on the eve of the tournament because of a broken index finger to his shooting hand.

"What you have to realise is how much Tony wanted to play in this competition. So really he's hurting more than I am - or than any of the other players - because he can't be out there on the court," Bergeaud said.

"It's not a case of him not wanting to play. He wants to play and he's made that really clear. But there is a big risk involved if he does try to play. He could make it worse and no one on the national team wants that for him and the San Antonio Spurs wouldn't be happy if that happened."

Despite the loss of their talented point guard, Bergeaud explained that none of France's goals have changed.

"We will try our best without him to accomplish the goals that we set ourselves for this competition."

Joining the French team in place of Parker will be Mamoutou Diarra. This choice may have raised some eyebrows, but it was a logical decision for the French coach.

"Mamoutou was the last player cut from the team. He missed three games in China. So it makes sense to bring him back because he practiced with us for a long time and is familiar with what we want to do."

The choice of a replacement player might have been different if Parker's injury had been sustained earlier. But considering the late stage at which the point guard was forced to pull out, Bergeaud is not considering changing the system the team will operate in the tournament.

"We've trained with Tony as our point guard throughout our preparations for this event so it is too late now to make any changes and try and bring in a system based around Boris (Diaw) for example."

"We will use the hierarchy system we have in place. So Aymeric Jeanneau will start at point guard instead of Tony. Joseph Gomis will stay at the off guard position for now and Yannick Bokolo will back-up Aymeric. We have to wait and see how that combination works out and go from there."

And the other players knew they would have to step up their game in the absence of Parker.

"Obviously we're a better team when Tony plays but we'll have to get the job done without him. That means we will have to share his duties among us and we are all ready to do that," said France International Ronny Turiaf.

As for Jeanneau, he reacted calmly to his instant promotion.

"This is the kind of situation that happens to every player. When one of your teammates goes down with an injury, you can get called in to fill in for him and you just have to make sure that you are ready but also that you don't try and play his game. You have to play the way you know best and hope this works in the team's favour."

Diarra is expected to make it to today's game against Argentina although it remains unclear whether he will arrive in time for tip-off.

By Simon Wilkinson
FIBA