French International news

Diandra Tchatchouang (pictured left) top scored with 17 points as France beat Slovakia (70 -49) in their last qualification match. The French players then had to sit through the remaining pool games to find out if this victory was enough for them to qualify for the semi-final. Lithuania already eliminated kept French hopes alive as they defeated the Czech Republic (77-68) with Gintare Petronyte scoring 34 points and taking 24 rebounds.

Lithuania victory qualified Russia for the semi-final, so the the final match was not that important but Spain needed to win to continue the defence of their title. Spain thrashed Russia 76-39 to clinch top spot in Group E as both teams made it through to the semi-finals of the UMCOR U18 European Championship for Women, eliminating France in the process.

France will now play in the classification group 5th -8th and play Ukraine on Saturday.


France U21:
France will play Brazil later today in the quarterfinal of the U21 women's world championship. Sandrine Gruda and Isabelle Yacoubou have been putting up good numbers in the competition. France won the Bronze medal 4 years ago and on current form are expected to do no worse this time around.

France U20:

France had a couple of preparation matches against Mali A last weekend. France won both matches comfortable (82-70) and (81-60). With quite a number of U20 internationals on duty at the world championships a decision on the 12 players for the European U20 championship will not be made until next week.

France Senior:
16 members of the squad spent the week in Paris at INSEP, undergoing physical and fitness tests. Basically the week give the head coach a chance to work a little with the players and discuss how the training camp will be conducted when the all the players report back in August for the long preparation towards Eurobasket 2007.