Singapore attempts blind date world record bid

Hundreds of college students at a Singapore university met up with members of the opposite sex today in this record-obsessed country’s latest wacky feat - setting up blind dates en masse.

Organisers at Nanyang Technological University paired 536 people into 268 couples who spent at least an hour together during a single 12-hour period, a university statement said.

The accomplishment has yet to be submitted to Guinness World Records for verification, said university spokeswoman Mah Lay Choon.

The previous record of 123 couples was set in London in 2001. Guinness regulations require couples to spend at least an hour together in a 12-hour period.

The Singapore event was part of the university’s orientation programme and 50th anniversary celebrations.

This tiny south-east Asian city-state of 4 million people often organises attempts to put itself on the world map of unusual feats.

Last year, Singaporeans broke Guinness records for burger stuffing and cracker eating. A young Singaporean woman holds the world record for the fastest mobile phone text message.