With the Guinness Book of World Records having listed 42.22 seconds as the fastest time that a 160 character text message has ever having been typed, LG Electronics put the challenge to the world to see if the record can be broken at the LG Mobile World Cup in New York.

The LG Mobile World Cup will be held from 12 to 15 January 2010 in Gotham Hall, New York City.

With the accreditation of Mind Sports South Africa, the South African leg of the LG Mobile World Cup started in September 2009.

South African regional events took place across Gauteng and the Western Cape over a five week period, with other regions participating via the www.lgmobileworldcup.com website. The huge entry was finally  narrowed down to 200 finalists who were undoubtably the fastest texters in South Africa.

Players had the choice of using either numeric keypads or QWERTY keyboards. The numeric keyboards were the most popular and contributed 150 of the finalists, while the remaining 50 opted for the for the QWERTY keyboard option. The 200 finalists competed at the official South African National Championship, at The Piazza, Montecasino, Fourways Johannesburg on 24 October 2009.

And what a day! Contestantants battled it out the whole day and night to finally determing the champions.

The South African National Championship were also open to the public and proved to be an exciting and entertaining event for all. Apart from the competition element, artists such as Prime Circle, Flash Republic, DJ Euphonic and DJ Small Paul performed at the event.

Even though men and women were equally represented, it was trhe women who proved their dominance. None of the men were able to stand up to the skill of Natalie Witoslawski and Kgothatso Moerane as both women from Tuks University totally dominated the event.

While each winner received R30,000.00 in prize money, as well as a fantastic new LG mobile ‘phone, both players were also selected to represent South Africa at the LG Mobile World Cup where 26 contestants from 13 countries will battle it out not only for national pride, but also for US$100,000.00 in prize money.

At the official award ceremony held on Friday, 8 January 2010, both women enthused about the trip to New York claiming that it is a dream come true.

The team leaves for New York on Monday, 11 January 2010 and will return on Sunday, 16 January 2010.