Former international basketball player Ludovic Vaty, who had to interrupt his high-level career in 2013 due to a cardiovascular disease, is dead, announced the French Basketball Federation on Friday, September 1 “It is with deep sadness that the players of the France team and his staff learned of the death of Ludovic Vaty on Friday, at the age of 34, “announces the FFBB in a press release.

The pivot with nine selections with the Blues had been placed in a coma after a heart attack which occurred on Tuesday during training with his amateur club, TOAC Toulouse (N2, 4th division).

“Like the rest of the France group, I was particularly shocked to hear this terrible news. Ludovic, with Nicolas Batum, was an essential player within an 88-89 generation which marked the history of French basketball [European U16 champions]”, comments the president of the Federation, Jean-Pierre Siutat, quoted in the press release.

Former interior of Gravelines, Ludovic Vaty had been stopped in full ascent, being forced to stop his career as a high-level basketball player at the age of 24 due to a heart condition. He had previously had nine selections with the France team in 2012 and was then coming out of his most successful season with the BCM (11 points and 6.3 rebounds on average). The Guadeloupean, also passed by Pau-Orthez and Orléans, was voted best player of the Leaders Cup in February 2013.

At the end of his contract at Gravelines, Vaty, much in demand by clubs in France and abroad, had his problem detected during a medical check-up. The serious heart attack affected the Blues, who are competing in Jakarta for the World Cup, and particularly captain Nicolas Batum, born the same year (1988) and who played with him in the French youth teams, notably winning a bronze medal during of the U19 World Cup in 2007.

“It was very complicated to play. I was not mentally fit, not 100% focused. You think of his mother, his children. We’ve been through so much. Ludo is the brother, our rock, our pivot with golden hands. If he hadn’t had this problem, he should have had a great career,” Nicolas Batum said Thursday after the victory against Iran (82-55).