A Nepalese teenager whose tiny stature has made him a celebrity in his homeland entered the record books as the world's shortest man on Thursday as he celebrated his 18th birthday. Khagendra Thapa Magar stands just 26.4 inches (67.08 centimetres) tall, according to final measurements taken by Guinness World Records on Thursday morning, making him the shortest adult male in the world.
He snatched the record from 24-year-old Edward "Nino" Hernandez from Colombia, who was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the first time just five weeks ago. "Khagendra Thapa Magar is now officially the shortest man in the world," said head of global records Marco Frigatti at a ceremony in the picturesque Himalayan town of Pokhara in central Nepal, near where Magar grew up.
"We want to congratulate Khagendra Thapa Magar and his family for this feat. This is a big day for Nepal," he added. Magar's family looked on proudly and a big cheer went up as he was awarded the Guinness World Records certificate. The country's caretaker prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said he was "the pride of our nation." Magar, the son of a fruit seller from rural Nepal, is the size of a toddler and weighs just 6.5 kilograms (14 pounds). He says he dreams of marrying and travelling the world in his wife's handbag, and has already been named a tourism ambassador for Nepal.