How many people can one person hug in a minute? The question has finally been answered by Krishna Kumar, who just hugged his way into the record books by chalking up 79 hugs in just 60 seconds.
Kumar, a resident of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, earned his place in history on March 5, 2016, by embracing 79 people and making the cut for the most hugs given in one minute by an individual, Guinness World Records announced.
The unintentionally hilarious video shows Kumar giving hugs to individuals as quickly as time permitted. Both children and adults are eagerly awaiting their turn in line. A guy can be seen hovering behind the queue, keeping everyone's morale up and ensuring the volunteers move smoothly.
"The affectionate record breaker managed to embrace 79 different people in just 60 seconds," Guinness World Records commented on its site.
Two hands, holding stopwatches, can be seen keeping track of the time. A man's voice can also be heard above the excited din in the background counting the number of people receiving the hugs.
"Not every hug you see here qualified, but Krishna's speed hugging skills were enough to beat the previous record," Guinness World Records commented on its Facebook post. No one person got a chance to be hugged twice – all hugs were with a different person.
The site also mentions that 88 students queued up while Kumar hugged 83 people. The Guinness World Records management team disqualified a number of squeezes which were "more headlocks than hugs". To qualify as a genuine hug, both arms had to be wrapped around the other person in a close embrace.Kumar, while applying for the title had mentioned, “Achieving Guinness World Record, I consider as … the highest level of human achievement.”
The previous record for the most hugs given in one minute was held by Carrie Bickmore for 77. Bickmore created the record at the Huggies Hugs for Healing event at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick, New South Wales, Australia, in 2014.Watch the video and take tips on hugging done right.
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