Natalie Witoslowski (20) and Kgothatso Moerane (22) will jet off to New York City tomorrow to compete in the LG Mobile World Cup 2010, during which they will face 26 of the world's fastest texters.
Last week, the two South Africans, both from Pretoria University, were awarded their national colours from Mind Sports SA (MSSA), an affiliate of the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee.
Robbie Johnson, LG Electronics mobile director, says this is the first time SA will participate in the world championships. “The competitors will be speed texting a variety of words in their native languages - in this case it will be English for the South African team.
“Each team will consist of two members of each participating country and each player will be timed on their texting either on the numeric keypad or qwerty keypad. We expect that the biggest competition will come from South Korea.”
Johnson adds: “Mobile phones have evolved and we see the development of mobile gaming increasing. LG is focusing on its youth market as a key area to drive mobile gaming.”
Fastest fingers
Witoslowski will compete on the LG BL320 numeric mobile phone and Moerane will use the LG GW320 qwerty mobile phone. Neither handset has been officially released in SA yet.
In September last year, Witoslowski won the national leg of the competition in the numeric category and Moerane won the qwerty category.
The national championships took place across Gauteng and the Western Cape over a five-week period. Each of the winners took home R30 000 and the title of national champion for LG Mobile World Cup 2009 SA.
Witoslowski says: “Travelling the world has always been my dream and to be given a chance to go to New York is a dream come true! I feel so blessed and hope to bring another global crown back to SA.”
Developing the youth
MSSA president Colin Webster says: “Being awarded colours is about developing people and giving them the upward ladder to new opportunities. Through this competition, we hope to develop this sport so more people can benefit from this sport and they can even appeal for sports bursaries.”
Webster adds that for texting to be recognised as an e-sport, in terms of the Sports and Recreation Act, it needs to be associated with an international e-sports federation and recognised by the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee.
The Guinness World Records lists 42.22 seconds as the fastest time that a 160-character text message has ever been typed. The LG Mobile World Cup has challenged participants from 13 countries to create a new record.
The competition will be held from 12 to 15 January in Gotham Hall, New York City, and the players (aged between 16 and 28) will battle it out for $100 000 in prize money.
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