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The king of balloons; first world champion

TARRAGONA.- Anyone who has ever jumped over a sofa to prevent a party balloon touch the living room floor can now dream of turning those skills into a triumph in the World Cup.

Inspired by a series of viral videos and organized by the Barcelona footballer, Gerard Piqué, and internet celebrity Ibai Llanos, the first edition of the Balloon World Cup was held in Tarragona, Spain on Thursday.

Francesco de la Cruz he became the first champion after beating German Jan Spiess 6-2 in the final on an 8×8 meter track filled with lounge furniture and a small car.

I am very, very happy, I thank God for having been able to achieve this“said the Peruvian teenager.

The rules of the game are simple. Players have to hit the balloon in an upward direction and score points if their opponent fails to prevent it from hitting the ground.

Teams from 32 countries participated, including an American team made up of Antonio and Diego Arredondo, whose videos of the challenge playing with their sister, Isabel, at their home in Oregon, were hugely successful on social media and inspired the tournament.

We play the little game and then, during the start of the quarantine due to the covid, we wanted to play it again, “said Antonio Arredondo.

“We started arguing with each other about whether he was touching the ground or not, so we started recording slow motion videos to see if he did and eventually it was time to post this video of ours on TikTok.”

“When I woke up the next morning it was completely viral, (I had) like a million likes, and after that we just decided to keep playing and play more and more. until one of our rounds caught the attention of Ibai and Piqué“.

Piqué, who won a soccer World Cup with Spain in 2010, was delighted with how the inaugural tournament had gone.

“It was incredible, it is something totally different, sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things“, said.

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