France are pinning their hopes on Joakim Noah joining the national team for this summer's FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The Chicago Bulls center is out of action with fasciitis in his left foot and could end up not playing for three weeks.

"It's frustrating but at the same time, I just have to really focus on trying to get healthy and being helpful to the team," Noah said.

The son of former French Open champion Yannick Noah, Joakim sat out the last two games and 10 of his team's last 19 overall.

He is averaging career bests of 10.7 points and 11.4 rebounds.

France's Tony Parker, meanwhile, has missed a lot of games this season with the San Antonio Spurs because of injuries.

He is an uncertainty for Turkey, where Les Bleus will take on Spain, Lithuania, Lebanon, Canada and New Zealand in the Preliminary Round.

"I still want to play this summer because I still want to go to the Olympics in 2012," Parker said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News.

Pepu Returns To Bench

Former Spain boss Pepu Hernandez has decided to get back into coaching.

The man that led Spain to gold at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and silver one year later at the EuroBasket in Madrid was on Thursday named coach of DKV Joventut in Badalona.

Hernandez has taken the reins in the wake of Sito Alonso's departure following DKV's heavy defeat at Aris in the Eurocup this week.

DKV have also lost six games in a row in the ACB.

In a club statement, DKV announced: "Joventut have reached an agreement with Hernandez to coach the team for the remainder of the season plus two further campaigns.

"DKV's administration council considered that Hernandez has more than proved his technical qualities in a long and successful career."

The 52-year-old is taking over the team at a critical part of their season.

DKV must win at home next week against Alba Berlin to advance to the Quarter-Finals of the Eurocup.

In the ACB, DKV are in ninth place at 11-12 following last weekend's 86-76 home defeat to CB Granada.

Brazil Excited About Colinas

Brazil are banking on Spaniard Carlos Colinas bringing the good times back to the country that has a huge appetite for the women's game.

The 43-year-old has been put in charge of the women's national team and will guide them at the FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic.

Hortência Marcari, the director of the women's national team who was a member of the Brazil side that won the 1994 world title in Australia, said: "We are betting on the experience of Colinas with the youth teams.

"As our project is medium-to-long term, his knowledge is very important.

"He is very knowledgeable about the teams in Europe and this will also be crucial to the success of our work."

Colinas has been hugely successful with Spain's youth sides.

He led Spain to three straight gold medals at the U16 European Championships for Women and the steered the country to silver in 2007 at the U18 European Championship for Women in Serbia.

Last summer, Colinas led Spain to a gold medal at the U18 European Championship in Sweden.

For the last four years, Colinas has worked as the technical director of Liga Femenina outfit Celta Indepo.