Olympics: French Men's Basketball Team Coasts to Quarterfinals With Win Over Iran
Voice of America
TOKYO - France secured a comfortable win over Iran in Olympic men's basketball on Saturday to qualify for the quarterfinals and remain undefeated in the preliminary round.
Real Madrid's Thomas Heurtel led with 16 points in France's 79-62 victory at the Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo. They swept their opponents in Group A, including a shock defeat of Team USA on Sunday, the first Olympic loss for the Americans since 2004. "The focus really was more about us and trying things out," Evan Fournier, who plays for the NBA's Boston Celtics, said about France's decisive win. Despite his team's dominant showing so far, he wouldn't speculate on medal odds. "Quarter-final first. Focus on that," he said. "Too many times we've beaten very, very good teams and we lost in the semi-final, so no more of that."
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