Man stands on one foot for 12 hours

Man stands on one foot for 12 hours

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): M. Ikhlas of Indonesia improved on his standing-on-one-foot world record yesterday when he managed more than 12 hours.

Ikhlas, a Jakarta resident, was able to stand on one foot for 12 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds. He broke the world record in August last year when achieved 9 hours, 2 minutes and 50 seconds.

Ikhlas defeated 70 other participants from Germany, Belgium, India, Japan, Australia, Netherlands, and Indonesia. Foreign contestants lasted barely two hours and most blamed the tropical heat for their failure

The second and the third places were won respectively by Marsid and Ignatius Arief H., both from Semarang. Marsid endured 10 hours, 59 minutes, and 27 seconds and Arief 10 hours, 29 minutes, and 47 seconds.

Ikhlas, downing 25 bottles of drinking water during the contest, said that the key to his success was hard exercise. "I won the contest because of God's blessing and also support from my parents," he told the Jakarta Post.

Ikhlas received Rp 2.2 million (US$1,019) prize for winning the contest and an additional Rp 1 million for breaking the new world record.

Ikhlas was the top seed in the contest organized by Jaya Suprana, the Chairman of the Indonesian Museum of Records, at the Simpanglima shopping complex. (har/imn)