Piqué and the first world balloon championship: what is it about?
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(Reuters) -
Anyone who has ever jumped over a couch to prevent a party balloon from hitting the living room floor can now dream of turning those skills into a World Cup triumph.
The first Balloon World Cup, inspired by a series of viral videos and organized by Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué and internet celebrity Ibai Llanos, was held this Thursday in Tarragona.
Francesco De La Cruz became the first champion after beating German Jan Spiess 6-2 in the final on an 8x8 meter track full of furniture and a small car.
The Peruvian Francesco De La Cruz in action with the Argentine Elian Barrado during the Balloon World Cup.
"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.
The career and controversies of Gerard Piqué
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Teams from 32 countries participated, including an American team made up of Antonio and Diego Arredondo, whose videos of the game playing with their sister, Isabel, at their home in Oregon, were hugely successful on social media and inspired the tournament.
"We played the game when we were little and then, during the start of the quarantine due to the covid, we wanted to play it again," Antonio Arredondo told Reuters.
"We started arguing with each other about whether it had hit the ground or not, so we started shooting slow-motion videos to check, and finally we got to the point of 'We're going to upload this video of ours on TikTok.'
"When I woke up the next morning, it had gone 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 the results of the inaugural tournament.
"It has been incredible, it is something totally different, sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things," he said.
Competencies
