Cuban Erick Hernandez imposes new world record of ball control
The Cuban Erick Hernandez imposed another world record of control of the ball, in the unprecedented modality of sitting and only with the feet, in which three pounds were fixed in each ankle. No dominator of the world had tried similar test, in which Erick kept playing the ball for an hour and 10 minutes without falling to the ground, in the lobby of the Hotel Riviera, as a celebration for the advent of the Soccer World Cup, in Russia.
Hernandez, also known as the "Dominador", used a Telstar 18 ball, which will play the World Cup and this time he tied three pounds (1.36 kilos) on each of his ankles, a difficulty that had by objective -as he explained- "to vary a little and to make more striking" his record.
"As it was an unprecedented test, I decided to take it up to an hour, no more, because I plan to try again by the end of the year and be able to go up a bit more time, although it is very difficult to control with weights on the feet," said Hernández cited by the state Cuban News Agency.
The athlete said that the three pounds attached to his ankles caused him some contractures that prevented him from making foot changes to hit the ball as he had planned in the event that took place at a hotel in Havana.
He recalled that usually he trains to perform 150 touches with each foot and was making just 100 and the contracture in his left leg did not allow him to maintain the pace he had in the first minutes of the sporting event.
Erick Hernandez, now 49 years old, was a soccer player and began to venture into the domain of the ball in 1994, inspired by the example of his brother Douglas Hernandez, a forerunner of the specialty in Cuba and helped by coach Luis Olmasa, which has prepared him in the different modalities he practices.
Hernandez has several world records of skill with a soccer ball and has demonstrated the ability to touch the ball with almost every part of the body, by achieving dominance marks with the thighs, knees, feet, head, running the 100 meters and the marathon.
Hernandez started these demonstrations in 1998 and that same year he achieved his first world record with a combined head and foot exercise for ten hours.