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."A villager shows maize crops wilting in a field, in Mumijo, Buhera district, east of the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, March 16, 2024. Christiane Rudert, nutrition adviser for UNICEF in eastern and southern Africa (Courtesy: UNICEF) Wongani Grace Taulo, regional education adviser UNICEF eastern and southern Africa. (Courtesy: UNICEF) UNICEF says it is attempting to help students and their families in the region learn ways of coping with climate change through the schools, in Harare, January 2024.
Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack in the Shangla district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. Five Chinese nationals working on a construction site were killed along with their driver by a suicide bomber. Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. A map of Pakistan locating the Dasu dam site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.