2021 Balloon World Cup
2021 Balloon World Cup | ||||||||||
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Venue | PortAventura Convention Centre | |||||||||
Location | Vila-seca, Tarragona, Spain | |||||||||
Date | 14 October 2021 | |||||||||
Competitors | 32 from 32 nations | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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The 2021 Balloon World Cup was a sporting event organized by Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué, based on a game of keep-up with a balloon that went viral on social media. It was held on 14 October 2021, at the convention center in the PortAventura World resort in the province of Tarragona.[1][2] The tournament was broadcast live in its entirety on Llanos's Twitch channel,[3] and culminated with Peruvian Francesco de la Cruz defeating German Jan Spiess in the final.[4]
Background[]
Ibai was inspired to organize the tournament by a video of American siblings Antonio, Diego and Isabel Arredondo playing a game of keep-up with a balloon in their Canby, Oregon home,[5] which Ibai tweeted with the caption "I want to buy the rights to this and set up a World Cup."[6] Antonio and Diego attended the tournament in Spain to represent the United States, but Diego was eliminated early after a first-round loss to Cuba's Eric Guzmán González.[1]
Staff[]
Llanos enlisted several panelists of Spanish sports talk show El chiringuito de Jugones for the event's staff, including former La Liga assistant referee Rafa Guerrero as one of the referees for the tournament's matches, and Alfredo Duro, Jorge D'Alessandro and Ander Cortés as commentators.[2]
Person | Role |
---|---|
Ibai Llanos | Announcing team |
Gerard Piqué | |
Alfredo Duro | |
Jorge D'Alessandro | |
Ander Cortés | |
Rafa Guerrero | Referees |
Franc Tormo | |
Nacho Tellado | Assistant referee |
Cristóbal Soria | Delegate |
Competition rules[]
- Matches would last for 2 minutes, except for the final, which would last 5 minutes.
- Players had to touch the balloon with their hands, launching it upwards.
- Players could only touch the balloon once before their opponent touched it.
- A player is awarded a point when their opponent fails to touch the balloon before it hits the ground.
- The player who has scored the most points when time runs out wins the match.
- If the two players are tied when time runs out, they go to an overtime where they must use their head and feet instead of the hands to touch the balloon; the first player to score a point wins the match.
Format[]
In spite of the championship having initially been announced as a 24-country tournament with a group stage that would ensure every participant played at least two matches, this was abandoned when the field was expanded to 32 participants, opting instead for a single knockout tournament. All matches were played inside a glass cage that contained a number of pieces of furniture acting as obstacles, and simulating the home environment in which the keep-up game is usually played.[citation needed]
List of competitors[]
All of the competitors were announced as the representatives of their country.[7]
Competitor | Country |
---|---|
Walid Seddiki | ![]() |
Ramon Cierco | ![]() |
Elián Barrado | ![]() |
Gor Khechoyan | ![]() |
Israel Quispe | ![]() |
Diego Mendez | ![]() |
Tsetevan Mladenov | ![]() |
Felipe Pávez | ![]() |
Funtxi Ursua Zhang | ![]() |
Tarik | ![]() |
Eric Guzmán González | ![]() |
Matías Boho | ![]() |
Pol Jorquera | ![]() |
Tamaz Tsagareishvili | ![]() |
Jan Spiess | ![]() |
Momo Benavides | ![]() |
Luis "Pollo" Forzan | ![]() |
Gerelt-Od Tserennorov | ![]() |
Yahya El Hajouji | ![]() |
Javi Damas | ![]() |
Raúl Eduardo Giménez | ![]() |
Francesco de la Cruz | ![]() |
Ricardo Ferreira | ![]() |
Yana Rudenko | ![]() |
Pape Ndour | ![]() |
Jan Franquesa | ![]() |
Nicklas Hallback | ![]() |
Andrii Mostavchuk | ![]() |
Moses Duckrell | ![]() |
Diego Arredondo | ![]() |
Isaac "Suko" Leal | ![]() |
Raúl David Carrero | ![]() |
Replaced competitors[]
Name | Country | Reason for replacement | Substitute |
---|---|---|---|
Marco Fiorillo | ![]() |
Tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the event | Momo Benavides |
Tournament bracket[]
Reaction[]
After Francesco de la Cruz won the tournament, he was congratulated on social media by President of Peru Pedro Castillo.[8]
The event received a nomination for "Best Streamed Event" at The Streamer Awards on 12 March 2022.[9]
References[]
- ^ a b Sherwin, Collin (14 October 2021). "Peru wins inaugural Balloon World Cup, and it might be the best sport ever invented". DraftKings. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ a b Gómez Rodríguez, Isabel (14 October 2021). "Ibai Llanos y Piqué fichan a varios colaboradores de 'El Chiringuito' para su Mundial de Globos". FormulaTV (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Llanos, Ibai (14 October 2021). "MUNDIAL DE GLOBOS 2021". Twitch (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 January 2022.
- ^ "Living room acrobatics earn Peruvian inaugural Balloon World Cup". CNN. 15 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Francke, Tyler (28 September 2021). "Canby Siblings to Play in 'Balloon World Cup' Inspired by Their Viral Videos". Canby First. The Canby Current. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Junquera, Natalia (16 October 2021). "El mundial de globos y las tres Españas". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Llanos, Ibai (8 October 2021). "LOS PAÍSES PARTICIPANTES EN LA BALLOON WORLD CUP". YouTube (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ "Pedro Castillo, presidente de Perú, felicita a Francesco de la Cruz tras ganar el Mundial de globos de Ibai Llanos y Piqué". Marca (in Spanish). 15 October 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Young, Rory (13 March 2022). "The Streamer Awards Full Winners List". Game Rant. Valnet Inc.
- 2021 in Spain