Living room acrobatics earn Peruvian inaugural Balloon World Cup
Anyone who has ever leaped over a couch to prevent a party balloon from touching the living room floor can now dream of parlaying those skills into a World Cup triumph.
Inspired by a series of viral videos and organized by Barcelona soccer playerGerard Pique and internet celebrity Ibla Llanos, the inaugural Balloon World Cup took place in Tarragona on Thursday.
Francesco De La Cruz emerged as the first champion after beating German Jan Spiess 6-2 in the final on a 8×8 meter court littered with living room furniture as well as a small car.
“I am very, very happy, I thank God that I have 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 they score points if their opponent fails to prevent it from touching the ground.
Teams from 32 countries took part including an American team of Antonio and Diego Arredondo, whose videos of the game they played with their sister, Isabel, at home in Oregon were a huge hit on social media and inspired the tournament.
“We played the game as kids, and then, during the start of quarantine for Covid, we wanted to play it again,” Antonio Arredondo told Reuters.
“We started arguing with each other over if it hit the ground or not, so we started taking videos in slow-mo to see if it did, and then finally it got to the point of ‘Let’s post this video of us on Tik-Tok.’
“When I woke up the next morning, it was completely viral, like a million likes, and then after that we just decided to keep playing and played more and more until one of our rounds got the attention of Ibai and Pique.”
Without sport, footballers turned to video games in 2020
Pique, who won a soccer World Cup with Spain in 2010, was delighted with how the inaugural tournament had gone. “It’s been amazing, it’s something totally different, sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things,” he said.
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“and with just 4 minutes gone, the score is already 0-0.”
-ian darke
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credits: reuters
Time to bring in the corporate sponsors….IKEA, Lazy Boy, Crate and Barrel for court design. And how about Party City as the official provider of the Balloon World Cup regulation size balloons?
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ooh, yes! and we’ll need food sponsors- kraft (mac ‘n cheese), and someone who does chicken nuggets well.
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I like where you head is at….
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koolaid, anything sticky you can spill in the living room when leaping and crashing
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Great fun!
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and quite harmless )
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Wow … they have taken the art of Ballooning to a whole new level … !!
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perfect song! i used to play this with my sibs, until something would get knocked over (had to be played in the living room) and we would get in trouble. game over for the day
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Funny how some tune stick in your mind !! .. I remembered the song Immediately when I saw your post ..
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sounds like fun; I’ll have to challenge my grandkids to a game 🙂
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Important to play in a room that you’re not supposed to be playing in, with lots of things to jump on, crash into and spill or knock over , at which point the game is suddenly over)
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thanks for the tip, Beth 🙂
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Speaking as an experienced player from way back)
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THIS is the good part of peoples.
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Yessddd!
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Ooops – yesss!)
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I knew 😉
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Oh, a fun game growing up for sure, Beth!
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Yes!
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The world as it imitates cyberspace! Incredible! But sounds like fun! Bravo Piqué, you may not be scoring with Barça but you did with your balloons!
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Right!
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Where do you find this stuff!? I’m reading the wrong news. Mine is all heavy and bad. I am thankful for your stories which bring a smile to my face. Thanks again, Beth!
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My pleasure
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I love indoor sports. Mostly, we played a similar balloon game and chair hockey. Great stuff!
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Fun!
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That’s one of the best quotes ever!
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It sure is!
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It’s a good one
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I’m pretty sure I played that back in the day. With four siblings, games like that are inevitable.
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Same! We’d play until we got in some sort of trouble )
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hahaha, I love this! It is amazing the types of competition people can come up with. Care to partner? 😉
Blessings! ♥♥
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I’d love to!
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Ok deal! I have to start practicing lol
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great!
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I have been practicing all morning trying to get ahead of the trend.
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I have full confidence in you
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dang; if only this game was around 30 years ago… I coulda been somebody…
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Me too! We were just ahead of our time!
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I saw a clip of this somewhere, and it looked like a lot of fun. If I remember correctly, the clip was a game between a father and son.
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ah, fun with most anyone, i’m guessing too – i used to play this with my sibs
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Finally, balloon batting, something everyone loves and has done, is a sport.
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at long last!
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Yes!
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We do what we must to stay sane…and have a bit of fun.
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Amazing, this needs to be an Olympic sport!
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i could not agree more! the uniforms would be whatever pajamas you woke up in.
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Yeah, or just jogging pants or whatever you wear while lounging around the home.
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yes!
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