The French national basketball team has suffered a stunning fiasco at the World Cup, which is currently taking place in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Coach Vincent Collet's team failed to reach the playoffs of the tournament, in the last two rounds of which they won bronze medals.

Le Bleu were placed in the same group as Canada, Lebanon and Latvia, being considered the main favourites of the quartet. However, in the opening match with the North Americans, the French team was defeated 65-95. Of particular note is the European fiasco in the third quarter of the match, in which they lost by 17 points.

In the second match, Collet's team met the Latvians. The French looked unconvincing, but managed to approach the decisive period with a 12-point lead. However, the Baltic team made an impressive comeback, managing not only to win back but also to end the match in their favour in regulation time - 88:86.

This defeat meant that the Blues would not be able to get into the top two of the group and compete for medals at the World Cup. In the last match, France gnawed out an 85-79 victory over the outright outsiders from Lebanon. Now, the winners of the 2015 and 2019 championships will have to continue fighting for 17-32 places.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Ukraine's men's basketball team failed to win a ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

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