Meet Pakistan’s freestyle football champion Jawad Blunt

Give him a football and get ready to be mesmerized by an unbelievable display of tricks by this young man.

Meet Jawad Blunt, a freestyle football champion from Lahore whose talent is taking him to new heights every day. He was crowned as the Red Bull Street Style Pakistan Champion 2016 earlier this year and will now proudly represent his country at the Red Bull Street Style World Final 2016, scheduled to take place in London from November 7-8, 2016.

So how does he do it? How does he control the football so smoothly and with such precise accuracy?

“It’s all about practice,” the 21-year-old Blunt tells Geo.TV in an exclusive interview, as he casually spins the football on his finger. “I’ve been practicing ever since I was a kid. I’ve been a football fan since forever and used to get very inspired by Ronaldinho’s freestyling skills. That’s where it all started.”

“Then I started watching YouTube videos of world famous freestylers and picked up some pretty cool techniques from them, especially from Russian freestylers. They inspired me a lot. I also started following their training programs.”

Any jitters ahead of the Red Bull London finals? What’s the tournament going to be like?

“It’ll be a dream come true for me. I will be representing Pakistan on a global platform in London, where there will be 40 champions from 40 countries – truly the best freestyler from each country. It’ll be very competitive as everyone would be at their complete best. So would I.”

Blunt, whose real name is Jawad Aftab, defeated 300 competitors in the Red Bull Street Style Pakistan Championship 2016 held in Islamabad to be crowned the champion. Equipped with some of the biggest and best tricks in the sport, along with his fierce determination to win and be the top of his game, Blunt looks all set to prove his mettle when he goes head-to-head with the best freestylers from every corner of the world at the Roundhouse in London.