JOSE LAIME FROM LA PAZ IS THE BOLIVIAN CHAMPION OF FREESTYLE FOOTBALL
He will represent Bolivia at Sao Paulo, capital city of international football at Brazil, at the Red Bull Street Style World Final from November 16th-18th.
Hundreds of spectators got together at the Paseo Prado at La Paz, to enjoy a unique show of talent and ball control, gave by the 8 best freestyle players of Bolivia. Despite de big talent showed by all the participants, Jose Laime from La Paz had an outstanding performance and crowned himself as the Bolivian champion of the Red Bull Street Style after defeating Johani Durán from Santa Cruz, who is only 13 years old, but classified to the final battle of the event. Jose will represent Bolivia in the world final of the “Red Bull Street Style”, which will be held in Sao Paulo this next November and where he will confront participants from all over the five continents of the World.
The competition: 1 ball, 2 players, 3 minutes
Under the sun and at 3600 meters over the sea level at La Paz city, the battle began. All started when B-boy Yungaro, who presented the event, called each of the 8 participants to the stage so they could introduce themselves to the audience showing some great freestyle moves. In that way Alberto Patty, Manuel Ortega, Nelson Palacios and José Laime from La Paz, Johani Durán, Rodrigo Irahola and Marvin Rodriguez from Santa Cruz, and Rhandi Muller from Cochabamba went up and presented themselves to the crowd. All of them were pre-selected in one of the event’s qualifiers held in this cities. Cristian Hidalgo from Cochabamba, freestyle champion 2007 had a place among the 8 finalists, but he couldn’t participate because of an injury in his ankle.
The competition started with the first round of four battles, that lasted 3 minutes each with a one-on-one duel format against each other. They took alternating 30-second turns with the ball, using their time to show off the best of their artistic moves to the sounds of breakdance and hip hop music. The winner advanced to the next round and the looser was eliminated. All of them showed great talent and creativity, but Johani Durán, Rodrigo Irahola, Rhandi Muller and José Laime were the ones who stood out to the eyes of the jury composed by great figures such as the futbol player Ivan Castillo, the sports journalist Adrián Blanco and the b-boy Marco Olaichea, who evaluated the style, the ball control and the creativity of their moves and also how they acted during the battle.
The semifinal was full of adrenaline. At the rhythm of DJ Jash, the four finalists faced each other in two fierce battles showing their best tricks with a lot of style. We saw ball control and creative tricks, but definitively our favorite part was when Jose Laime made a mortal backflip after kicking the ball and then received it back before hitting the ground.
The jury had a hard job to choose the two finalists, but finally they chose Johani Durán, who is only 13 years old to battle against Jose Laime in the final of the Red Bull Street Style in Bolivia. Despite the great talent of both and a great performance in the stage that deserved one extra minute of battle, Jose Laime from La Paz showed the best of his freestyle and became the national champion of freestyle football. A merit that will take him to the World Final of the Red Bull Street Style in Sao Paulo, where he will face the best freestylers of the world. “I feel very proud to be Bolivian and thrilled to represent my country in the world final. I’m a break dancer and I love football, so this is the perfect sport for me,” commented Jose Laime.
Because of its innovative format and great combination of football, street culture, break dance and music, the Red Bull Street Style was a great show.
