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TikTok craze inspires Peruvian teenager to win first-ever Balloon World Cup
Katherine Berjikian
Europe;Spain
00:50

For many people with siblings, the game is probably familiar. It's that childhood pastime of taking a balloon and competing to see who can keep it from touching the floor.

Now there's a competition for that. It is called the Balloon World Cup, and its inaugural event took place in Tarragona, Spain, on Thursday.

It attracted teams from 32 countries. And the world's first champion was a player named Francesco De La Cruz from Peru.

"I didn't expect it. I knew Germany was going to be a tough rival, but in the end, the result was very good," he said after the final round.

Internet celebrity Ibai Llanos and Barcelona soccer player Gerard Pique created the World Cup after seeing viral videos on TikTok of American teenagers playing the game. Antonio and Diego Arredondo, the videos' stars, were also competitors in the event.

"I think that a few million people (have watched) during the six hours of streaming. I think we reached the peak of 650,000 people (at the same time)," Ibai Llanos said.

"I think it's the second most view stream of all my life, so we are very happy to have done it with a Balloon World Cup, which is something that in principle should have never happened. But in the end, it happened."

Video editor: Steve Chappell. 

Source(s): Reuters

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