SENDAI, Japan, Aug 18 - France have suffered a major blow to their world basketball championship hopes after NBA All Star Tony Parker was ruled out of the tournament on Friday with a freak injury.

The San Antonio guard broke a finger on his right hand after catching it on an opponent's jersey in France's final tune-up game against Brazil on Tuesday.

Parker had been expected to miss the team's opener against Olympic champions Argentina in Sendai on Saturday, but X-rays revealed the injury was more serious than feared and he has been ruled out of the tournament, which runs until September 3.

"Tony wanted to try and play with the injury but I didn't feel it was worth taking the risk," French coach Claude Bergeaud said.

"He will not be playing in the tournament and will return to San Antonio to recover from the injury."

Parker was replaced on the French roster by Mamoutou Diarra.

France were expected to be one of the challengers for a gold medal with the United States, Argentina and Spain.

The French are in Group A alongside Argentina, Lebanon, Nigeria, Venezuela and defending champions Serbia and Montenegro.