FRA - Turiaf facing latest battle

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STRASBOURG (FIBA World Championship) - Ronny Turiaf is facing a battle to make France's final squad of 12 for next month's FIBA World Championship in Japan - but he is no stranger to adversity.

At the age of 23 the power forward has already experienced some highs and lows.

"Fighting seems to be my destiny and I never step back when in front of a difficulty," said Turiaf who is currently in Strasbourg with the French national team for an international tournament.

A regular member of the Under-16, Under-18 and Under-20 national squads, he won the European junior championship in 2000 and snatched bronze at the U20 European Championship two years later.

The 6ft 10in player was also at Gonzaga for three years and saw his career boosted when he was a second-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers last June.

But a physical exam carried out by the NBA giants four weeks after the draft revealed that Turiaf was suffering with heart problems.

He was forced to undergo open-heart surgery on July 26 with fears he might never be able to play basketball again.

But nothing scares Turiaf who completed a dazzling recovery before getting back on track with the Yakama Sun Kings in the CBA and played his first NBA match on January 8.

In the 23 games he's played for the Lakers since he has averaged 2 points and 1.6 rebounds.

His last appearance for France came as a 14-minute appearance during Euro 2003 in Sweden, but he is now back in the frame.

He knows he will once again have to fight harder than ever to earn his place in the final 12-men squad for the FIBA World Championship.

"I am so delighted to be here, it's like a bonus for me to have been called up," said Turiaf who is part of a 17-man squad to face Senegal, Lithuania and China this weekend that will be trimmed to 14 after the games.

"If I am not taken I will be disappointed and I will go back to LA in order to be ready ahead of next season.

"I cannot control what the coach thinks of me."

But Turiaf is convinced he has what it takes to pursue the adventure with Les Bleus.

"I can defend and help my team-mates bring out their best," he added.

"Those are qualities I have and that I can use. I am capable of doing everything the coach (Claude Bergeaud) wants me to do.

"It seems I always have to do more than others to convince people and I hope it will change one day.

"People always have doubts about me but it's my role to show them my potential."

Isabelle Rondeau
PA Sport, Strasbourg