The road to Olympic basketball tournament in Rio de Janeiro begins for the women in Nantes, France as five nations look to join USA, Serbia, Canada, Australia, Japan, Senegal and hosts Brazil at the Summer Games in August.
GROUP A
Hosts France eased past Cuba 83-67 in the last game of the first day of action in Nantes.
Taking a 20-15 lead after the first quarter, France stormed clear in the second, as they raced into a 50-29 advantage before seeing the game through.
Endene Miyem led the winners with 19 points.
GROUP B
Argentina got their Group B campaign off to a winning start as they beat Cameroon 75-64.
A strong first half display from the Argentines ultimately sealed the deal as they raced to a 43-23 half-time lead.
But the African nation made life difficult towards the end for Argentina, who were led by 15 points from Melisa Gretter.
GROUP C
Evergreen Yelena Yeuchanka was again the star for Belarus in their 71-60, Group C win over Nigeria.
Yeuchanka secured an almost customary double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Belorussians to victory.
GROUP D
China got their campaign off to a dominant start as they eased past Venezuela 77-59 in the first game of the day.
The South Americans got off to the better start, but once Huang Hongpin’s buried two free-throws to give China their first lead at 10-9, they never trailed again, closing the first half with a comfortable 42-24 lead and building their lead to 31 points at one point in a one-sided affair.
Mengxin Sun led China with 21 points and five rebounds. Venezuela’s Waleska Perez led all scorers with 23.
