“It is with deep sadness that the players of the France team and his staff learned of the death of Ludovic Vaty on Thursday [August 31], at the age of 34”, announced the French Basketball Federation, this Friday, September 1. The former international basketball player had to interrupt his career in 2013 due to cardiovascular disease.
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, playing in N2, fourth national 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 [champions d’Europe U16, NDLR]”, comments the president of the Federation Jean-Pierre Siutat , quoted in the press release.
Former Gravelines insider, Ludovic Vaty had been stopped on the rise, 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, who also passed through Pau-Orthez and Orléans, was voted best player in the Leaders Cup in February 2013. At the end of his contract at Gravelines, Ludovic Vaty, much in demand by clubs in France and abroad, was seen to detect his problem 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 in the 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,” Batum said Thursday after the 82-55 win over Iran.
