FRA - Noah ruled out of London Games

PARIS (Olympics) - France center Joakim Noah has not fully recovered from the ankle injury he suffered while playing for the Chicago Bulls during the NBA play-offs and will not play at the Olympics.

The 27-year-old averaged 9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in his first tournament with the national team last summer at the EuroBasket in Lithuania as Les Bleus reached the Final and qualified for the London Games.

France waited as long as they could for Noah but have decided to rule him out of their plans for London.

National team coach Vincent Collet said: "It's clear that we tried everything to convince him to come to work with our medical staff in France and they really thought that he had a chance to get better.

"We know the importance of Joakim on our roster. It's a bad thing for the France team, knowing that he gave a lot to the team last year.

"Now it's a fact and we have to deal with this. However, we still have a competitive team for the Olympics.

"(Ronny) Turiaf just arrived last week and (Kevin) Seraphin is in shape and doing some interesting things. We still hope that Ali Traore can enter the group."

France are still uncertain if Tony Parker will play, with the point guard due to fly to the United States to have his eye injury examined the San Antonio Spurs' medical staff.

France will play in Group A against Argentina, Team USA, Tunisia and two sides that come out of this week's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas, Venezuela.

FIBA