The Blues had not participated in the Paralympic Games since Athens in 2004. Carried by Nicolas Jouanserre’s 21 points, Franck Bornerand’s men immediately put pressure on the Moroccans, leading by 15 points at the end of the first quarter-time and 23 points at half-time. They were then able to manage their lead.
“No one expected us at this level”
“It’s a pure joy (…) it’s been a lot of work, we’ve come a long way. We’ve managed to bring together something very great both humanly and sportingly and that’s the main thing,” commented Franck Bornerand.
“Do we realize what we have just achieved? Not yet, we are still in the fever of victory and we do not yet realize that the Olympics are here,” continued the coach French in a reaction communicated by the French Handisport Federation. Four tickets to Paris were up for grabs in this final Paralympic qualifying tournament, during which the Blues won the four matches they played.
“No one expected us at this level, no one expected us to have four victories, to finish first in our group. I think we surprised everyone and we are super proud,” reacted Sofyane Mehiaoui (8 points, 5 assists) in a press release from the Paris-2024 organization sent to AFP.
Germany, Canada and the Netherlands qualified
“It was a lot of teamwork, it was also a great organization and everything went really well, we couldn’t have dreamed of better. We will be there at the Paris 2024 Games, we will be part of the adventure and celebration,” he added.
In addition to the Blues, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands leave Antibes with a ticket to Paris, where they will join the United States, Australia, Spain and Great Britain, already qualified .
The French women’s team will try to imitate them during the qualifying tournament scheduled for the weekend in Osaka, Japan (April 17-20). The automatic qualification of French teams as host country, in force in most team sports, does not apply to wheelchair basketball.