Les Bleues, who openly announced their desire to win gold after five consecutive failures in the final, dominated a team from Serbia who had just beaten them in the final of the last European championship (63-54).
After a start of preparation polluted by the non-selection of Marine Johannès, the Bleues, who will only have a dozen days of full training and five preparation matches to perfect their automatic skills, started the meeting with a bang ( 11-4, 5e).
Largely dominating and well helped by the three-point address of Iliana Rupert (3/3, 11 points at the break), the Habs seemed to have done the hardest part at half-time (40-22) against a team Serbian completely absent for the first twenty minutes (22% success).
Less successful and more messy after the break, the Blues were however scared (62-56, 34th) in a second part of the meeting much less successful.
Back in the France team after missing the last world championship, Valériane Vukosavljevic (seven points in the first five minutes) had to leave her partners visibly affected in the calf shortly before halftime. The Prague player then followed the rest of the meeting on the bench without leaving it.
Sandrine Gruda, top scorer in the history of Les Bleues, who was also returning to the national team, was rather discreet in scoring (3 pts) but very useful on the rebound (9) and in defense (2 counters and 2 interceptions) .
French and Serbs will meet on Monday, still at the Palais des sports in Toulouse, for a second friendly match.
