South Africa enters Guinness book with largest soccer ball

Johannesburg: South Africa may be out of the World Cup football tournament but the host country has got a place in the Guinness World Records by creating the world’s largest soccer ball.

The ball with a diameter of 15.66 metres and weighing 650 kg, was officially recognised as the world’s largest by the Guinness World Records at Emperor’s Palace Monday. Robert Molloy, an adjudicator from Guinness World Records, inspected the ball which met all the requirements of becoming the replica of a FIFA soccer ball, South African news agency BuaNews reported. The replica, which is inflatable and deflatable and can be kicked and rolled, has surpassed Sudan’s 10.5-metre ball which was the previous record holder, Molloy said. “With a ball of that size maybe even the England goal keeper will be able to save it,” Molloy joked. The world’s biggest soccer ball is 70 times the size of the Jabulani ball currently being used in the World Cup and 1,500 times heavier. It takes two hours to inflate and needs 550 metres of strap to be tied. Ray Levine, CEO of KIA Motors South Africa, said the ball had been created to wow soccer fans and put South Africa on the world map with the world record. Bob Yearham, Chief Operating Officer of Emperor’s Palace, said: “I don’t know what people are going to do after Sunday when there is no soccer to watch on TV. Some might go into depression with no soccer but it has been great,” he added. IANS