SINGAPORE: Singapore has achieved a new record for having the world's fastest SMS thumbs.

18-year-old Sng Gim Jeramy, a Republic Polytechnic student, set that record in the fourth SingTel SMS Shootout on Sunday.

His first attempt at the Shootout clocked 41.40 seconds, 12 milliseconds faster than Singapore's 2006 record of 41.52 seconds.

SingTel will be submitting Mr Sng's timing to Guinness.

Close to 200 participants competing in the SingTel SMS Shootout 2008 had to type the SMS text provided by Guinness and participants had to type without the use of the mobile phone's predictive text mode or spelling aids. -CNA/vm