Hukporti, Kessler named MVPs of BWB Global Camp

CHICAGO (United States) - The sixth edition of the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Global Camp came to a close in Chicago and after three days of skills development and games, Ariel Hukporti of Germany and Serena Kessler of France took home the awards for Most Valuable Player.

A total of 64 boys and girls from 33 countries and regions came together at the NBA All-Star Weekend for the annual camp which is organized in collaboration by FIBA and NBA. Among the NBA players who were on hand to help the young talents learn the game were Cameroon's Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, Senegalese center Tacko Fall of the Boston Celtics, Finland's Lauri Markkanen and Latvian Davis Bertans of the Washington Wizards.

After one day of scrimmage, the 40 boys players were split up in four teams and faced off against each other with the 24 girls being selected into three teams. In addition to being coached in various drills to improve their skill level, the campers went through a series of measurements to test their basketball abilities - such as vertical leap, shuttle run and quickness of dribbling among others.

In the end, Hukporti, a 7-foot (2.01m) center from Germany, was given the MVP award for the boys.

"It feels really good to be MVP for sure," Hukporti said. "This will definitely motivate me in the future when I look back and think that I was the MVP here. It will definitely help me and motivate me to work on my game."

Joining Hukporti on the boys All-Star team were Charles Bediako (Canada), Juhann Begarin (France), Josh Giddey (Australia), Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), Jean Montero (Dominican Republic), Josh Primo (Canada), Olivier-Maxence Prospect (Canada), Esteban Roacho (Mexico) and Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania).

Montero claimed the award as three-point champion while Roacho was named the Defensive MVP and Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi of Nigerian received the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award - handed out by the former FIBA Secretary General's son Paul Baumann.

On the girls side, the MVP went to the French shooting guard Kessler.

"I am super happy. I was very confident and I got better as the camp wore on. The start was a little complicated but I am very happy and very proud," Kessler said.

Joining Kessler on the girls All-Star team were Anna Gret Asi (Estonia), Mama Dembele Traore (Spain), Aminata Gueye (France), Camila Kirschembaum (Uruguay), Florence Niski (Uruguay), Oliver Pollerd (Australia) and Merissah Russell (Canada).

Asi was crowned at three-point champion while Traore was named Defensive MVP and Russell claimed the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award. 

FIBA