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| Tony Parker is expected to lead the way for France in his final Olympic stint. |
By Ivan Saldajeno
PASAY--France, which won the last Olympic spot in the final of the FIBA OQT at the Mall of Asia Arena, ended up in a tough Group A that features fellow FIBA OQT winner Serbia, overwhelming favorite USA, FIBA Asia champ China, FIBA Oceania winner Australia, and FIBA Americas runner-up Venezuela.
[Related Story: France drawn to USA group in Olympics basketball]
But for Coach Vincent Colet, the other group could be fun to watch as well.
"Both [groups] are totally difficult," Colet told some sportswriters following the draw for the FIBA OQT champs late Sunday night.
The other Olympic group is composed of host country Brazil, FIBA Americas champ Argentina, FIBA Europe finalists Spain and Lithuania, FIBA Africa winner Nigeria, and FIBA OQT Turin leg winner Croatia, which was the first team drawn.
"Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and Croatia are tough too," he said about the teams who are touted to make the quarterfinals in the said group.
He even thinks Australia could be the dark horse in Group A.
"Australia will be very good. They're playing at a high level," Colet thought of the
He then evaluated, "The thing in our group is that these are very good teams. If you qualify [for the playoffs], you can beat [the teams in Group B]. In the other group, if they cross with the United States in the quarterfinals, they have a good chance of stopping them."
On the other hand, while France is expected to make the knockout stages, Colet set up a goal for his team for the preliminaries.
"We'll try to be second in our group," he vowed.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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