Priyanka chopra in Miss World 2000 Pageant
LONDON: Miss India, paying tribute to Mother Teresa as the woman she In some countries - such as India, home of last year's winner Yukta
Priyanka Chopra claims the crown
most admired, was crowned Miss World on Thursday - the second
consecutive year India has carried away the title.
swimsuits in recorded footage from the Maldives, and in evening
gowns on a chilly night at London's Millennium Dome.
The tall and slender Chopra said she would use her success as
"a platform to influence people's thoughts,
minds and actions". She won $100,000 in prize money.
Mother Teresa, she said, was
someone "I admire from the bottom of my heart for being so considerate,
passionate and kind ... giving up her life to put smiles on people's faces".
It was Miss World's 50th annual beauty pageant, and the first since
the death of its creator, Eric Morley, in November.
Mookhey - the event remains enormously popular. But in Britain,
the pageant is widely seen as a quaint, kitsch spectacle. Bookmakers
William Hill said bets
slumped this year to an all time low of 2,570 pounds ($3,600), a far cry
from the mid-1970s when takings in the region of 250,000 pounds
($350,000) were normal.
Uruguay and Miss Turkey. At the semifinal stage, when only 10
contestants remained, Miss India said she didn't feel any tension.
strive for enthusiasm." She was clearly the audience's favorite,
raucously cheered whenever she stepped on stage and took the
microphone.
had said it was not only looking for beauty - but also women who "speak
on behalf of humanity and charity". In its 1970s heyday, Miss World was a
focus of feminine protests, which helped spur the show's move outside
Britain. Demonstrators flour-bombed the 1970 event at the Royal Albert
Hall. There were echoes of that protest again on Thursday, when
about 200 members of the National Union of Students Women's
Campaign heckled people as they entered the Millennium Dome in south London
in Delhi Times Party
Press conference in Delhi
with Mr. Vinit Jain - TOI
