Parker ruled out of FIBA World Championship with injury (fiba.com) Updated: 2006-08-19 11:00 SENDAI CITY (FIBA World
Championship) - France point guard Tony Parker was on Friday ruled out of the
FIBA World Championship with a broken finger.
Parker sustained the injury after getting his finger caught in the jersey of
an opponent during France's last warm-up game against Brazil on Tuesday.
He was initially ruled out of Les Bleus' opening game against Argentina, but
on Friday - one day before the French team's clash with Argentina - coach Claude
Bergeaud announced Parker would not play at all.
"Tony wanted to try and play with the injury but I didn't feel it was worth
taking the risk." a distraught Bergeaud said. "He will not be playing in the
tournament and will return to San Antonio to recover from the injury."
France captain Boris Diaw supported the coach's decision and encouraged
Parker to get the injury attended to back home.
"With this kind of injury you never know what might happen," Diaw said. "He
could play with his finger plastered but what if he gets hit on it again?
"If that happens, he will only make it worse and it will be tougher to
recover from that injury."
Parker's absence changes the dynamic of the French team with back-up point
guard Aymeric Jeanneau now thrust into the starting role, with Joseph Gomis
promoted as a second string playmaker.
Prompting Parker's inability to play, France beat the 24-hour deadline for
submitting rosters to tournament organizers FIBA and replaced the San Antonio
Spurs guard with Mamoutou Diarra.
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