By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
During Game 2 of the LNB Semifinals between Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 and ASVEL, 15.000 fans came to the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy to watch Victor Wembanyama and his teammates take the 2-0 lead in the series against Tony Parker’s team.
After the 86-83 victory, the home side’s head coach and French national team recruiter Vincent Collet expressed his wish regarding the Accor Arena as the venue of the preliminary round of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. “Bercy was truly magnificent. Too bad the first round of the Olympics doesn’t take place there”, Collet commented after the game.
Nicolas Batum followed his head coach, agreeing with him on Twitter. It isn’t the first time the Los Angeles Clippers small forward calls out the organization on the matter, as he also pointed out his criticism with Evan Fournier and Vincent Poirier towards the first venue announced for the preliminary round.
Following those public critics, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and FIBA decided to change the location to Lille, switching venues with the handball tournament, while the final round of the Olympic Games will still take place in the Accor Arena. Apparently, the desire of the French national team representatives is to play both the first and the second rounds in Bercy’s same venue.
Mon coach 🫡 https://t.co/XqBmwfoyKB
— Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) May 30, 2023
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA Olympic Games