PARIS (Olympics) - France coach Vincent Collet has decided to bring Yakhouba Diawara into the Olympic squad at the expense of Charles Kahudi.

Kahudi, a 1.97m forward who turns 26 next week, came off the bench at last year's EuroBasket in Lithuania and provided a real spark to help Les Bleus reach the Final to earn a trip to the London Games.

The move is purely a technical one by Collet, who says Diawara’s ability to play power forward  has led to the decision.

"I believe the abilities of Yakhouba will help us at the start of the tournament at the time when Tony (Parker) and Nicolas (Batum) will need time to get to their best level," Collet said.

Parker has been dealing with an eye injury and was only recently given the all-clear to participate by the San Antonio Spurs.

The Portland Trail Blazers’ Batum status as a restricted free agent in the NBA caused him to arrive to training camp late.

FIBA