HARNAAZ Sandhu of India, a 21-year old actor and model, was crowned Miss Universe today (Monday morning in Manila) during the coronation night broadcast live from Eliat in southern Israel.
She replaces last year’s winner Andrea Meza of Mexico.
The country’s bet, Beatrice Luigi Gomez, managed to get to the Top 5 of the competition but nonetheless garnered the admiration of pageant fans all over.
Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira and South Africa’s Lalela Mswane won first and second runners-up honors, respectively.
Expectations were high among regular pageant watchers for Gomez to reach all the way to the Top 3 round, only to falter a bit during the Question and Answer portion, where her topic was about the need for a “mandatory vaccine passport.”
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach came to the defense of Gomez in a post on Twitter, that Filipinos’ expectations of our bets making good in the pageant continue to rise every year.
She likewise reminded the public that making it to the Top 5 is already very difficult “so let’s celebrate that victory, too!”
(PHOTO CREDIT: Harnaaz Sandhu Twitter account)