Singapore champion clocks faster time than current world record 

Singapore, 27 June 2004 -- The inaugural SingTel SMS Shootout competition has unveiled Singapore’s fastest SMS thumbs and possibly a world record breaker.

Ms Kimberly Yeo, 23, a Singaporean student pursuing business administration studies, clocked a time of 43.24 seconds during the final round of the competition held today at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza in front of an audience.  Her time was the fastest recorded at the competition and won her the championship. 

Mr Ashley Tan, 18, a Singaporean junior college student, finished as Runner-up of the competition with a time of 43.66 seconds – also clocked during the final round of the event.

The current record recognised by Guinness World Records is 67 seconds set by Mr James Trusler of Britain on 24 September 2003 in Sydney, Australia.  SingTel will be submitting the time of 43 seconds recorded by both Kimberly and Ashley to Guinness World Records for its consideration.

All 125 participants in the SingTel SMS Shootout 2004 had to type the set SMS text provided by Guinness, as follows: 

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human. 

The SMS message had to be correctly typed for the attempt to be recognised.  The use of the mobile phone’s predictive text mode or spelling aids was prohibited.

As Champion of the Shootout, Kimberly has won for herself almost S$25,000 worth of prizes including cash of $17,500, free subscription to SingTel’s Premium 1500 mobile plan and a top-end handphone from Nokia.  The other top five finalists also won cash, free SingTel mobile subscriptions and Nokia handphones. 

During her eight attempts during the competition today, Kimberly was very consistent and clocked sub-44 second times on four occasions.  She is an avid SMS user, averaging 1,500 SMS messages a month.  She dislikes using her mobile phone’s predictive text mode as it slows her down.  

The SingTel SMS Shootout 2004 is the first nationwide competition to uncover the fastest SMS texter in Singapore.  It is organised by SingTel as part of the activities to commemorate 125 years of telecommunications in Singapore.  All Singapore citizens and permanent residents were eligible to participate. 

Mr Ivan Tan, SingTel’s Director (Corporate Communications), said: “It has been almost ten years since SingTel introduced SMS to Singapore and it is appropriate that we organise a competition for this highly popular mobile platform.  Singaporeans are among the heaviest SMS users in the world and we were confident that there exists a world record breaker among us.  We are delighted that Kimberly and Ashley will now put Singapore’s name in the record books.” 

The competition was supported by the following sponsors: Casio, Nokia, Samsung and Salon4Hair.

See list of winners at http://home.singtel.com/shootout/index.htm