France finishing up first U17 training camp
PARIS (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - France are finishing up their first training camp ahead of the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as head coach Frederic Crapez is working with a group
PARIS (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - France are finishing up their first training camp ahead of the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as head coach Frederic Crapez is working with a group of 19 players.
Crapez has his troops running through initial drills in Temple-sur-Lot in south-western France, ahead of the Zaragoza tournament. He has been with his group since 21 May and the camp finishes on 2 June.
| France 19-player squad for 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship | |||
| Maxime Affaa Abah | Dylan Affo Mama | Timothee Bazille | Ludovic Beyhurst |
| Yanik Blanc | Emile Chassaigne | Maxence Dadiet | Brahim Dohou |
| Nicolas Dorez | Nicolas Elame | Alexandre Fanchini | Ivan Fevrier |
| Jaylen Hoard | Baptiste Picaud | Yves Pons | Louis Rucklin |
| Quentin Ruel | Olivier Sarr | Tom Wiscart Goetz | |
Crapez has included 10 of the players who guided France to fifth place at the 2015 FIBA U16 European Championship, including the top six scorers. Not on hand will be leading assist man Victor Mopsus as well as guard Sofiane Briki.
Ludovic Beyhurst will take over as the predominant point guard after finishing second on the France team in assists last summer.
Back into the team will be Yves Pons, who missed the U16s last summer but played a year up and won the title at the 2014 FIBA U16 European Championship.
Pons and Beyhurst are two of eight squad nominees who played this season at the successful development academy INSEP along with Timothee Bazille, Yanik Blanc, Nicolas Dorez, Ivan Fevrier, Jaylen Hoard and Olivier Sarr.
France's next training camp will run from 7-18 June in Auch before a final camp in Spain from 20-22 June. In Zaragoza, Crapez's team will play in Group D with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominican Republic and Korea.
FIBA