Marine Fauthoux, leader of the France team (19 pts) eliminated in the quarter-finals of the women’s world championship by China 85-71, this Thursday in Sydney, in comments reported by AFP, summarized : “When you see the skill they had in exploiting our little mistakes… It’s a very high level. We did not deserve it, we came back in the third quarter. It’s hard, hard. We’re not far off, but that little thing is still missing. Regrets ? I have plenty of them, like the balls I lose at the start of the match which give them confidence. It’s not easy to digest. It still annoys me. It’s full of little details (that make the difference). We can be proud, but we lost. We don’t end up far, damn it’s boring.»
Sarah Michel, captain of France, retained, she: “We are inevitably disappointed, I do not have the impression that the gap reflects our match. We fought, we believed in it, I think there was a way to get through. We had a little less skill, they were also very good. We tried to outsmart them as best we could, we pushed them back a bit, that wasn’t enough. I’m still proud of this group because it showed heart, commitment, intensity. Facing the best team of the tournament (on the rebound) we managed to hold the rebound and that’s what we will have to remember, for the future. We put on some intensity, but that wasn’t enough because they’ve had a lot more experience than us in a competition, together at least.»
