By Jabulile Ngwenya

Natalie Witoslawski, 20, from Rustenburg and Kgothatso Moerane, 22, from Dobsonville, Soweto, beat off the 150-strong competition in a National Mobile World Cup Championships in October to secure their berths for the global finals in New York.

Witoslawski won the numeric category and Moerane the Qwerty category of a competition run by cellphone manufacturer LG. They will work as a team at New York's Gotham Hall on Thursday, when they will pit their wits, skill, speed and accuracy against 12 other teams.

The two young women, both students at the University of Pretoria, said they had decided to enter the competition on a whim, joining 3 million people worldwide who took part.

Colin Webster of Mind Sports SA said he was happy that two women would be representing the country.

"A lot of sports sideline women, and women can achieve a lot and do well. It is important that sports become less gender biased," he said.

The Star asked the two contestants to type a 49-word paragraph to see how fast they can type. Both completed the task in under two minutes, with Moerane finishing in 1:42:18 and Witoslawski in 1:48:47.

Witoslawski has used billboards and posters on the streets and freeways as her training while Moerane chats to friends and uses MXit.

"We have one of the highest uses of SMS per capita in the world," said LG's GSM director for sub-Saharan Africa, Robbie Johnson.

He said LG was "very proud to be part of an initiative for the development of the youth".

• This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on January 11, 2010