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National Teams 05/05/2009, 18.02

De Colo Confirms Commitment To France

Il giocatore dello Cholet vestirà la maglia dei Blues mentre incerto il futuro di Noah

National Teams

The list of players that have signed "la Charte d'engagement" (Charter of Commitment) to play for France's national team continues to grow with the EuroChallenge's outstanding Nando de Colo the latest to put his signature on the document.

De Colo, who represented Les Bleus last summer in qualifying games for EuroBasket 2009, had 24 points for Cholet in the final of the EuroChallenge nine days ago when his side suffered a narrow defeat to Virtus BolognaFiere.

Tony Parker, Joseph Gomis and Florent Pietrus are others who have signed the charter.

Among the leading players France would like to add is Joakim Noah, the son of former French Open tennis winner Yannick Noah.

Joakim Noah just completed his second campaign with the Chicago Bulls and was terrific in the first-round series against Boston when he averaged 13.1 rebounds against the defending champions.

Despite his excellence, the Celtics won the series 4-3 to end Noah's season.

"I feel like I know what I have to do to get better as a player," Noah said.

"Obviously, I have to get stronger. Kendrick Perkins (Boston) was really strong out there. He was pushing me around too much. I feel like I have a lot of strength to gain in the offseason, especially in my lower body. Get better offensively. Maybe get some right hooks and left hooks. Work on that. I feel I have a way to go with that."

Noah has not confirmed that he will play for France this season, even though he is expected to be named in the preliminary squad for the EuroBasket.

His priority is to keep the momentum going in his burgeoning NBA career.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work this off-season because I feel we have an opportunity to do something good with this unit if the Bulls decide to keep it intact," he said.

"I feel like I learned a lot from this play-off experience. Even during the tough times. It makes me who I am, the good times and bad times.

"The thing that's hard now is the season's over.

"That's always tough. I think we have a chance to do something special ... We had so many great moments the last two weeks."

France will compete in the Additional Qualifying Round For EuroBasket 2009.

E. Carchia

E. Carchia

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