MIES (Switzerland) - Guinea basketball is in the clouds after its incredible performance in the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge 2020.

A team full of promising players that have every chance of representing the senior team one day turned plenty of heads with several victories, including surprise triumphs over leading basketball countries Australia in the Group Phase and Italy in the Quarter-Finals.

Guinea, who fell to eventual champions Mongolia in the Semi-Finals, capped a surprising overall performance in the U17 Skills Challenge with a win over Panama in the battle for third place.

Visiting the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland on Monday, the Secretary General of the Guinea Basketball Federation, Oumar Camara-Sampil collected a commemorative plaque for Guinea's third-place finish at the global event.

"For us, it was a great experience," Camara-Sampil said. "We were not expecting to reach to the Semi-Final stage. And today, this offers even greater motivation for us to continue to pursue the work we're doing to develop young players.

"We believe our starting five has the potential to become professional players, all of them, and make our national team shine in the future."

The FIBA U17 Skills Challenge has taken on, arguably, greater importance this summer with the coronavirus pandemic having led to postponements of tournaments around the world.

Guinea seized on the opportunity to jump into the spotlight.

"THIS OFFERS EVEN GREATER MOTIVATION FOR US TO CONTINUE TO PURSUE THE WORK WE'RE DOING TO DEVELOP YOUNG PLAYERS."

"It was very important for us, especially in technical terms and for the health," Camara-Sampil said. "It demonstrated we can deliver on two important aspects: health and technical development. It showed our capacity to get a special acceptance from the government to organize such a competition, the only one in the country. 

"And also from a technical point of view, it was a matter of showing the value and the skills of our players. We have big, tall players who can shoot the ball as well. It was an opportunity for us to show what we can do, technically.

"It gives value to all the work that has been done over the past five years with those young players, as well as the work by the coaches and I once again want to congratulate them on their performance."

The inspirational showing by Guinea will hopefully serve as a further spark for basketball in the country.

"I want to thank FIBA for having organized this competition in these circumstances. We really appreciate that opportunity for our players to showcase their talents," Camara-Sampil said.

"And secondly, I want to thank FIBA for the great support it has given to the National Federations and for all its efforts towards empowering them, especially in Africa. It's very important work that FIBA does and we are grateful."

FIBA