A world champion typist has set a new speed record – with his nose.
Mohammed Khurshid Hussain, 23, wrote a 103-character sentence in just 47 seconds after practicing his technique for six hours a day, the International Business Times reported.
If confirmed it will smash the previous time of a minute and 33 seconds, set in Dubai in 2008 by an Indian man who used his nose to write the same sentence: ‘Guinness World Records has challenged me to type this sentence using my nose in the fastest time.’
It took Mr Hussain, from the southern city of Hyderabad, months of training to break through the 53-second barrier after reaching it at least twice.
During his attempts, his hands tied behind his back, was surrounded by crowds of fans with stopwatches and an extra-large monitor attached to the keyboard.
Videos and ecstatic press conferences after the attempts have been posted on his Youtube feed.
Mr Hussain already holds the Guinness World Record for typing the entire English alphabet – although that feat was achieved with his fingers.
It is far from the most bizarre typing feat to be recorded by Guinness.
Last year American Mark Encarnación typed on a smartphone ‘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’ in 25.9 seconds – while blindfolded.
There is also a recorded time for typing the numbers 1 to 50 with a full stop between each one.
Hind Al Mulla, from the United Arab Emirates, managed the feat in 16.3 seconds at an event in Dubai in 2009.
Grace Pak typed a 264-character text on a mobile phone with a keyboard in 56.57 seconds in Pennsylvania, U.S., in 2011, setting another record.
The nose is also not the only appendage used.
Chinese amputee Liu Wei typed 251 letters in alphabetical order with his feet on an Italian TV show in 2010, the most ever recorded without a mistake.
The fastest hands-free typing overall, however, goes to American Hank Torres.
In 2011 he used facial motion capture technology to type the same sentence as Mark Encarnación in 83.09 seconds.