2022 Women’s Basketball World Championships – Sarah Michel before France-China: “It’s not basketball that will take precedence”

Sarah Michel, China is the big favourite. What did you tell the band to make the feat possible?

Sarah Michel. : “Remember where we come from: not many people saw us here (in the quarters) at the start, yet we are still in contention. We have everything to gain. We fought to have this quarter, we don’t nothing to lose. Anything can happen, even if it’s China. In a quarter, it’s not basketball that will take precedence but intentions, intensity, energy, and desire because the bodies are impacted by previous matches”.

In this World Cup, France won its matches when it imposed its game. Will it be the key on Thursday?

S.M. : “Yes, we have to show the state of mind proposed from the start, stay together, move the ball, stay aggressive and outwit them. It’s going to be an intense match, emotionally and physically. We’ll have to hold on as long as possible , (show) mental endurance. You will have to stay in contact all match, it will be played until the end. A quarter is mainly played on the commitment, it is really the physical and mental hardness which prevails ” .

You were present during the quarter-final of the 2018 World Cup lost to Belgium (93-77). What memory do you keep?

S.M. : “It was a big disappointment, we completely missed it, Belgium made us miss it. We thought it was a team within our reach, they took the game in hand and we quickly sank (Thursday) you have to tell yourself that everything can go one way or the other, mentally you will have to hold on and resist. Fight, grab all the balls possible. Either it’s your last game or you can go look for something crazy. Even if you’re dead at the end, you have to play it as if it were the last match of the competition. It goes by super fast. You just have to enjoy it, have fun because you don’t know not what can happen. We can go and get something crazy that hasn’t happened in years.”