Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said on Tuesday on RTL that there was “no question” of questioning the rules concerning Russia after the captain of the French basketball team wanted the return of a player suspended to play in Russia.
“The subject is absolutely not to question decisions relating to Russia which are dictated by the will that we have, at the level of the ministry but also at the level of the Quai d’Orsay, at the level of the federation to protect the safety of athletes, to have a form of ethics and consistency, ”she said a few days after the fiasco of the French at the Basketball World Cup eliminated at the end of the first round.
Thomas Heurtel, the leader of the Euro 2022 finalist team, is suspended by the federation after joining Zenit Saint Petersburg, against the rules laid down by the French body. His recall, for which the executives of the France team have been campaigning for several months, was again requested by Captain Nicolas Batum on Sunday: “We need everyone”.
“A Thomas Heurtel knew knowingly that if he left to play in Russia, he would not be selected, he still made this decision”, added the minister on RTL. “I remember that in the debriefs, this theme did not come back,” she added.
“We already have exceptional basketball players at constant numbers,” she assured.
Asked about this subject on Monday on the sidelines of a trip dedicated to the Paralympic Games, she told a few journalists including AFP that she was going to “discuss with Jean-Pierre Siutat (president of the French basketball federation) and Vincent Collet” , the coach. However, it did not comment on whether the athletes playing in the Russian championship should be reinstated. “I will discuss these points with them” (Siutat and Collet, editor’s note), she had eluded.
“I debriefed yesterday with the president of the federation”, she confirmed on Tuesday “and I will discuss in the hours or the days to come with Vincent Collet, we missed each other yesterday”, a-t- she says.
