Gobert, Fournier to spearhead Tokyo Games campaign for experienced France

PARIS (France) - Veteran France coach Vincent Collet named a star-studded team for the country's Olympic campaign in Tokyo on Thursday night, one that includes eight of the players that reached the podium at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.

Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Nando De Colo, Frank Ntilikina, Andrew Albicy, Amath M'Baye and Vincent Poirier all had significant roles for Les Bleus in Beijing and most have a wealth of experience in big tournaments with the national team.

Thomas Heurtel had some big performances at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 for France,  helping the team reach the Quarter-Finals. Though he missed the World Cup, Heurtel returned to the national team in the country's successful FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers campaign and is now set to play in Japan.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot of the Brooklyn Nets and ASVEL pair Mustapha Fall and Guerschon Yabusele are set to feature in their first big tournament with France.

Collet, who announced his squad on France Television on Thursday night, also named four players that are on standby. They are Isaia Cordinier, William Howard, Mathias Lessort and Axel Toupane.

France will be viewed as contenders for a spot on the podium and a threat to win gold after their performance in China. They eliminated the USA in a thrilling Quarter-Final at the World Cup with a stunning performance from Fournier and after falling to Argentina in the Semi-Finals, the team showed tremendous grit when coming from behind to defeat Australia in the Third Place Game.

Gobert is a premier center in international basketball and is set to appear in his second Olympics after Rio while the likes of Batum and De Colo are two of the most experienced players in the team, one they have represented for more than a decade.

The team will gather on June 23 to begin its preparations for Tokyo and will have five warm-up games, including two against World Cup winners and European rivals Spain, on July 8 in Malaga and July 10 at the Accor Arena in Paris.

The men's tournament in Japan gets underway on July  25, with France meeting the USA in the fourth and final game of the opening day, to August 7.

Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, USA, Iran, Nigeria and Japan are already in Tokyo Games field and will be joined by the winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be played June 29 to July 4 in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia.

FIBA