BEIJING (China) - The FIBA U17 Skills Challenge has been recognized as the Best Online Competition of 2020 at the SportBank awards ceremony in China.

As national team competitions were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year, FIBA came with the innovative U17 Skills Challenge for both men and women, a competition that allowed players to represent their countries and show off their dribbling, passing and shooting skills.

Mongolia prevailed in the men's tournament and China won the women's. Li Qingyang, who was the youngest member of the Chinese team, was also named the MVP of the FIBA U17 Women's Skills Challenge. The FIBA U17 Skills Challenges were so popular that FIBA has recently announced the FIBA U15 Skills Challenge is to be held in 2021. 

The awards ceremony was hosted jointly by the Beijing Sports Foundation and Beijing Fangshan Sports Federation and took place during an annual conference that was put on by SportBank, a leading online sports media company in China. 

The conference focused on "China's 14th Five-Year Plan" in sports. FIBA took part in a panel discussion that was about the implementation of China's Sport-Education Integration (SEI).

FIBA China presented the accomplishments of FIBA's Level 1 Coaches Course and also FIBA's Mini Basketball Coaches Course in China, showing that both the local coaches and school's Physical Education teachers who receive international level professional training from FIBA can help raise the enthusiasm of kids for basketball and guide them on the right track of practicing the sport. 

FIBA