France beats China to reach first-ever FIBA Women’s World Cup semifinal
Marine Johannes and Janelle Salaun scored 15 points each as France beat China to reach the FIBA Women’s World Cup semifinals. | Photo Credit: AFP
Marine Johannes and Janelle Salaun scored 15 points each as France beat China to reach the FIBA Women’s World Cup semifinals. | Photo Credit: AFP
Marine Johannes and Janelle Salaun scored 15 points each as France defeated China 90-61 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the FIBA Women’s World Cup for the first time.
Gabby Williams added 14 points for the Olympic finalist, which remains in contention for its first World Cup medal since finishing third at the inaugural edition in 1953.
France continued its dominant run in Berlin, having now won its four matches by a combined margin of 156 points.
The French side was once again effective from beyond the arc, converting 14 of its 37 three-point attempts. Johannès and Salaun hit three triples apiece.
ALSO READ | FIBA Women’s World Cup: Australia beats Italy, China edges Puerto Rico to advance
France also managed to restrict China’s 7-foot-3 centre Zhang Ziyu, who finished with seven points, eight rebounds and seven turnovers. Zhang was held scoreless in the first half, although she registered three blocks before the interval.
Han Xu was China’s leading scorer with 21 points and nine rebounds.
France will face the winner of the Germany-Belgium quarterfinal in the last four.
Earlier, defending champion United States eased past Hungary 108-56 to reach the semifinals. Napheesa Collier led the Americans with 19 points as the U.S. extended its World Cup winning streak to 34 games.
Spain and Australia were due to meet in the remaining quarterfinal, with the winner set to face the United States in Saturday’s semifinal.
Published on Sep 10, 2026
Latest on Sportstar
Live Blog 2026-09-10T18:37:51+05:30
India vs Bangladesh LIVE score, Women's Asia Cup 2026 Semifinal 1: Shafali 50, Deepti cameo help India amass 149/6- France beats China to reach first-ever FIBA Women’s World Cup semifinal
Live Blog 2026-09-10T16:32:22+05:30
England vs Pakistan LIVE Score, 3rd Test Day 2: PAK 46/2, rain stops play, trails ENG by 274 runs
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.