A lesser evil. For about 4 hours, the French basketball team could have feared this Tuesday that its defeat of the day against Serbia (62-68), during the last group match, would send it against the American ogre.
In other words, straight into the wall from the quarter-finals, seen as Team USA is as usual the big favorite of the competition. But no, the draw smiled on the Blues, who had as many chances (like the Serbs) of falling on the United States as on China.
Last February, during the qualification tournament in Belgrade, the players of Jean-Aimé Toupane had certainly been crushed by the Chinese selection (70-103). But this draw remains a nice stroke of luck for a team ranked fourth in its group. It offers both a quarter-final within reach of the partners of Gaby Williams, Thursday (10 a.m.), and a possible semi-final there also accessible against the winner of Belgium-Australia.