Forgot your password?
World's Shortest Man Crowned In Nepal
BBC NEWS
October 14, 2010: Guinness World Records officials have recognized Nepalese teenager Khagendra Thapa Magar as the world's smallest man and presented him with a certificate at his 18th birthday party. Local and international dignitaries attended the ceremony. At 67.08 cm (2 ft 2.41 in), he is more than 3 cm smaller than the previous titleholder Colombian Edward Hernandez.
"After I'm 18, I'd like to get married. I want to get married within two years," Mr. Magar told the BBC's Joanna Jolly in Kathmandu. I hope that having this title enables me to get a proper house for me and my family.” "I'd like a big red car to drive around."
During the ceremony, Khagendra - who weighs 5.5kg (12lb) - joked with guests and raised his hands in joy when he was presented with a cake twice his size.
On being declared the shortest living man, he said: "I don't consider myself to be a small man. I'm a big man. I hope that having this title enables me to prove it and get a proper house for me and my family."
Our correspondent says that the international recognition he will gain for being a world record holder has already brought financial benefits to his family, who are originally from a poor farming village in the hills outside Pokhara.
In the coming months, Mr. Magar - who enjoys watching karate on television and dancing to traditional music - will take up a new role as an ambassador for Nepal's tourism board.
He was spotted by a traveling salesman when he was 14 and taken to local fairs, where children paid to be photographed next to him. He was then taken to Kathmandu where he formally applied to become the world's smallest man.
Guinness World Records Adjudicator Marco Frigatti has said that his task has been complicated because Nepal has a different calendar to the West and the age of a person is measured not when they are born but when they are conceived.
"We have known about Khagendra for some time, but have had to wait until he turned 18 before we could consider him for the record of shortest man. Khagendra has grown since his last measurement in February, but he is still shorter than his rivals."
