‘Too many twins’ twist world record attempt

AFP: Sri Lanka attempted to set a world record in Sri Lanka for the largest gathering of twins last week, but it failed after too many turned up. The organisers of the event – Sri Lanka Twins – called on the island’s twins to gather at a sports stadium in Colombo to try to break Taiwan’s Guinness World Record set in 1999. The record then was 3,961 pairs of twins, 37 sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets together in one place. But a bigger than expected crowd flocked to the stadium on Monday, causing long queues and meaning strict rules on registration were hindered. The organisers were aiming to break the world record, with 5,000 pairs of twins. There are 14,000 pairs of twins registered with the organisation in Sri Lanka. The organisers say the huge turnout meant they had probably been unable to meet the strict guidelines set by Guinness World Records although it will be two weeks before they find out if they qualified for the record or not. The organisers have vowed to set up another event, and many participants said they would be happy to try again – Pix by Shehan Gunasekara