Marko Guduric, a Serbian national team player and a Fenerbahce basketball player, reflected on the FIBA World Cup held last summer, where he won a silver medal.
The basketball fairy tale from Manila didn’t end with a golden signature from Serbian players, but the silver medal won at the World Cup will be remembered as one of the greatest achievements in the history of Serbian sports.
You can count on one hand those who were willing to go to great lengths to predict that the team led by coach Svetislav Pesic would play their last game at the World Basketball Championship. Nevertheless, it eventually happened, and among the main protagonists of this great success was Marko Guduric.
Marko Guduric, a Fenerbahce basketball player, has already returned to his club duties with Fenerbahce, and he told ATV that the memories from Manila are still fresh. Without a doubt, he says it was a story he will remember for a lifetime.
“It was a special summer that I will remember my whole life. There was everything. From tough moments, injuries, and setbacks to various comments. We went to the World Cup without great expectations, which turned out to be excellent for us. After that, all those events with Borisa, then the loss to Italy, after which we thought we were going home, and then a complete turnaround.
After the loss to Italy and everything that happened with Borisa, we became a real team. We had always been a real team, but then we rallied, and we finally started to understand and believe in the system that the coach had been trying to implement from day one. In the end, with crazy energy, primarily from Alex, and then all of us, we managed to achieve great success,” Guduric recounts.
It wasn’t easy for the Serbian basketball players in Manila, and the most challenging part was for Borisa Simanic, who was fighting for his life during the World Cup. The blow he received in the game against South Sudan cost him a kidney, and Marko Guduric still speaks with disbelief about that incident.
“It was most challenging for Borisa and his family. That first night, we found out that he had surgery and was okay, and then there were complications, and his condition became critical. I tell you, it was most challenging for him and his family. They immediately came to Manila.
It’s incredible what happened. It was a kind of blow that we almost get every day in practice, and we receive hundreds of such blows during the season. However, the most important thing is that he is now well, he has recovered, he is positive, and everything is going in the right direction.”
Nevertheless, in every adversity, there is something good, and so the life drama of Borisa Simanic provided extra motivation for all the Serbian basketball players to achieve success for a lifetime on the court. One moment, Marko says, was special—a message of support that Borisa sent to his teammates from his hospital bed.
“We didn’t exaggerate anything. It really happened that way. During those days, we hardly knew anything. We knew the condition, but we hadn’t heard anything from him. Borisa didn’t have his phone with him and didn’t answer for four or five days.
Then came that quarter-final game against Lithuania, and just before it, he sent us a message. Within fifteen seconds, all of us replied, or at least it felt that way. It was like, ‘Thank you, Boki, stay strong.’
It was a truly special feeling, and that message further brought us together and motivated us to play for him and to win a medal. It was a really nice gesture for him to find the strength in his battle for life to send us a message, and we thank him for that,” Guduric said.
In the knockout phase, the Serbian basketball players gave Lithuania a lesson, then Canada, and then they faced Germany in the grand final. However, the ‘Panzers’ remained an insurmountable obstacle.
“We watched the semifinal between Germany and the United States, and we were kind of divided about who we wanted more. Honestly, I wanted to play against the United States more, and I was cheering for them against Germany. I believe our advantage would have been that they didn’t know us, and I think they would have underestimated us.
I’m convinced they couldn’t have guarded Milutinov. On the other hand, Germany is a physically very powerful team, and they know us well. Both as players and coaches. Of course, there’s a regret. We had a chance, we were there until the end, playing for gold, but they were better in that final and played the whole tournament excellently… In the end, they showed the most and finished the World Cup undefeated,” Guduric said.
“The silver shines like gold” is a cliché often used in newspaper articles when seeking an excuse for a loss, but in this case, it’s not like that. The silver from Manila has its own gold, and it will forever tell the story of a team that reached the grand final with their hearts. Regrets remain, but the motivation for new success is even greater.
“We wanted that gold more than anything. I wanted to make that shot the most. If I had made that three-pointer, it would have been a tie, but there are many situations before that I wish I could go back and change. That’s life. We move on. The Olympic Games are next.
We achieved the primary goal of qualifying for the Olympic Games, and we managed to win a medal as well. I wish all my national team teammates a good season full of health, and I hope we can get together again for the Olympic Games and try to achieve a new success,” Guduric said.
There’s no rest for Marko. After the national team summer, he returned to his club duties with Fenerbahce.
“For now, everything is going as it should. We all hope to achieve success this season. At Fenerbahce, the fans appreciate only trophies and titles, and there’s always pressure on players and coaches. I hope this season will be successful and full of trophies,” Guduric concluded.