France squad looking towards the future

Alain Portes, the new French women's national team head coach, has selected 18 players to prepare for the EHF EURO 2014 qualification games against Slovakia and Finland.

Due to the absence of Camille Ayglon and Claudine Mendy on maternity leave and Blandine Dancette and Mariama Signaté through injury, Portes has named five rookies in his list.

"All the new players I selected have different interesting profiles and are really young. It’s better to try to integrate them now instead of later.

“Our main target is to prepare the 2016 Olympics. I travelled a lot across France since the beginning of the season, I went to a lot of games and I watched videos. That's how I made my choice,” explained Portes.

Line player Astrid N'Gouan (Issy-Paris Hand), right wing Lesly Briémand (Issy-Paris Hand), centre-backs Estelle N'ze Minko (Nantes Loire Atlantique Handball) and Grace Zaadi (Metz Handball) and right back Dounia Abdourahim (Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball) are the new players.

"What a great surprise! I didn't expect that I could have been selected. I will go there to learn, knowing that it's because some girls are missing that I get my chance, but I'll do my best to impress the new coach,” Dounia Abdourahim said.

The French national team will gather on 20 October. The first game against Slovakia will take place in Rouen on 24 October. The second one will take place in Finland in Vantaa on October, 27th.

France’s 18 player team for the EHF EURO 2014 qualifiers against Slovakia and Finland:

Goalkeepers: Amandine Leynaud (Vardar Skopje),Cléopâtre Darleux (Viborg HK), Armelle Attingré (Issy-Paris Hand)

Wingers: Paule Baudouin (Metz), Siraba Dembele (Vardar Skopje), Audrey Deroin (Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball), Lesly Briémant (Issy Paris Hand)

Line players: Nina Kanto (Metz), Astride Ngouan (Issy Paris Hand), Julie Gioiorani (Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball)

Back court players: Marie-Paule Gnabouyou (Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball), Audrey Bruneau (Fleury Loiret Handball), Dounia Abdourahim (Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball), Gnonsiane Niombla (Fleury Loiret Handball), Alexandra Lacrabère (Union Mios-Biganos Bègles)