Meghalaya’s very own magician predicted World Cup finals result, scores correctly

TNT News | July 16, 2018

Sunday saw France beating Croatia 4-2  to win the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Moscow for the second time in their history. The entire world tuned in to the football event and fans from across the globe showed their excitement in different ways.

John Lanong, a magician from Shillong, expressed his excitement by announcing that he would be predicting the result of the final World Cup game before the game starts on Sunday.

Lanong had written the prediction beforehand. He then locked the prediction inside a box and it was hung near the giant screen in Polo from Sunday morning for all to see.

Staying true to his word, Lanong predicted the winners of the game and did it correctly: on the sheet that was kept inside a box and hung near the giant screen in Polo on Sunday, was written the name of the winning team (France) and the exact minutes of the four goals they scored together with the names of the players who scored.

The attempt is part of the 10th anniversary of magic initiation which will be celebrated this year. John has been preparing for the big reveal for an entire month.

While there were many cheers for Lanong, there were skeptics in the crowd as well.

S. R. Kowar, a spectator at Polo Grounds at the time expressed her doubts saying, " It's difficult to believe that John predicted this very accurately – from the scores to the exact minutes. If he had disclosed the prediction before the game, it would have been more believable. But since he disclosed it after the match, it seems a bit rehearsed. However if this was really predicted beforehand, then hats off to Lanong."

Speaking to TNT – The Northeast Today after the prediction, Lanong said he made the prediction to express his love for the game. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not a psychic nor do I claim to have supernatural powers. I'm just a magician and mentalist. I attempted this because I'm a football fan and I feel I can do something with my art form. Because for me, everything is possible in magic: it might be real or just a pure illusion and magic blurs that line, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I have been doing magic for ten years and through experience, I have found a way."

On how he feels having made the correct prediction, Lanong said, "After a very long day of waiting, when the prediction was opened, I felt relief because it was over and even the goals were right. I did this for entertainment because I love to entertain. My reputation was also on the line yesterday so I was really happy that it went well. The crowd response was also good so I'm happy about what I did."

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