KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

The Miss World Trinidad and To­ba­go Fran­chise has ex­tend­ed its con­grat­u­la­tions to the coun­try’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive An­na-Lise Nan­ton who se­cured a place among the Top 40 in the com­pe­ti­tion.

The 72nd Miss World com­pe­ti­tion was won by Opal Sucha­ta Chuangsri of Thai­land with Has­set Dere­je Ad­mas­su of Ethiopia be­ing named first run­ner-up in the com­pe­ti­tion.

Nan­ton who won the Head-to-Head Chal­lenge was fast-tracked to the Top 10 in the Amer­i­c­as and Caribbean. She al­so placed first in the shut­tle run event in the sport/fit­ness cat­e­go­ry. De­spite her strong per­for­mance Nan­ton failed to make it to the top five in the cat­e­go­ry.

“While she was not se­lect­ed to ad­vance to the fi­nal round, her grace, in­tel­li­gence, and un­wa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion were ev­i­dent through­out the com­pe­ti­tion,” said co-fran­chise hold­er Navin Bood­han.

“She has rep­re­sent­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go with dis­tinc­tion, em­body­ing the val­ues of per­se­ver­ance, el­e­gance, and na­tion­al pride.”

Ac­cord­ing to Bood­han the Miss World Trinidad and To­ba­go team was im­mense­ly proud of Nan­ton.

“We know this is on­ly the be­gin­ning of even greater things to come,” he added.

“An­na-Lise re­mains one of the Top 108 women in the world, hav­ing earned her place through months of prepa­ra­tion, ad­vo­ca­cy, and ser­vice. Her jour­ney has in­spired many, and we cel­e­brate her suc­cess in show­cas­ing the spir­it and strength of our twin-is­land na­tion.”

Dressed in a re­gal hand-paint­ed Shawn Dhan­raj de­sign “Is­land Monarch” Nan­ton took the stage at the fi­nals in In­dia’s south­ern Hy­der­abad city with con­fi­dence and el­e­gance.

Nan­ton was not named in the Top five of the Amer­i­c­as and Caribbean–Ar­genti­na, Brazil, Mar­tinique, Puer­to Ri­co and the US–which left many fans dis­ap­point­ed.

Mar­tinique moved on the top the cat­e­go­ry and placed fourth over­all in the com­pe­ti­tion.

Many took to so­cial me­dia to crit­i­cise the fi­nal dress worn by Nan­ton. While the show­piece was not a typ­i­cal gems and glit­ter gown aligned to the pageant world–the fiery or­ange and black piece cap­tured the essence of a monarch but­ter­fly steeped in cul­tur­al sym­bol­ism.

“For this gown I want­ed to re­flect re­gal strength and di­vine fem­i­n­i­ty,” said Dhan­raj. “It had to feel like it be­longed on the world stage, yet still car­ried the soul of home.”

Dhan­raj al­so de­signed Nan­ton’s gown for the World De­sign Award–Flight of the Bronze Ibis. He cred­its Af­frose Deen for the metic­u­lous con­struc­tion sand ex­e­cu­tion of both gowns.

Chuangsri topped a field of 108 con­tes­tants in the con­test held in In­dia’s south­ern Hy­der­abad city. Has­set Dere­je Ad­mas­su of Ethiopia was the first run­ner-up in the com­pe­ti­tion.

Chuangsri re­ceived her crown from last year’s win­ner Krysty­na Pyszková.

The 72nd Miss World beau­ty pageant was host­ed by Miss World 2016 Stephanie del Valle and In­di­an pre­sen­ter Sachi­in Kumb­har. In­dia host­ed the beau­ty com­pe­ti­tion last year as well.

In­dia’s Nan­di­ni Gup­ta ex­it­ed af­ter mak­ing it to the fi­nal 20.

Six In­di­an women have won the ti­tle, in­clud­ing Re­i­ta Faria (1966), Aish­warya Rai (1994), Di­ana Hay­den (1997), Yuk­ta Mookhey (1999), Priyan­ka Chopra (2000) and Manushi Chillar (2017).