India’s Harnaaz Sandhu has won the Miss Universe pageant held in Israel | Women’s Issues

Sandhu, a 21-year-old model, is ahead of 80 competitors in a race that was politically and epidemic.

India’s Harnaaz Sandhu has been crowned 70th Miss Universe, taking part in nearly 80 pageants in a political and epidemic.

Former Miss Universe, Andrea Meza of Mexico, was crowned her successor, the 21-year-old model Sunday in the Israeli Red Sea town of Eilat.

The site took place at midnight, ending at 5am (0300 GMT Monday) to coincide with the first time in the United States.

The competition included exhibitions of national costumes, swimwear and a number of questions to test the competitors’ public speaking skills. The top 10 showed off their long-sleeved gold, silver or bronze dresses.

Beatrice Luigi Gomez from the Philippines wore a cut-out dress with one arm, and wrote a new tattoo that she said “celebrates her femininity”.

Before Sandhu, two Indians won the Miss Universe title: Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.

Call each other obscene

The competition has also shown interest in recent weeks for a number of reasons.

The Palestinian-led militant group urged its rivals to drop the rally to protest against Israel. Palestinian aid.

In the end, only Malaysia, which has a large Muslim population with close ties to the Palestinian people, did not send a delegation, citing the global developments of COVID-19. The South African government, which is closely aligned with Palestine, left help to the country’s embassy in taking part.

In a statement last month, Meza urged his opponents to stay out of politics at the event, saying the rally was aimed at mobilizing different women. “Once there, you forget about politics, religion,” he told The Associated Press at the time.

Sara Salansky, an official at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, said the country was selected to participate in the competition earlier this year because of Israel’s successful coronavirus vaccination program.

South Africa Mswane, left, Harnaaz Sandhu of India and Nadia Ferreira of Paraguay reach third place in the Miss Universe pageant [Ariel Schalit/AP]

The race was marred by last-minute problems with the arrival of the Omicron race, which forced Israel to close its borders to foreign visitors at the end of last month.

Most of the Miss Universe contestants were already in the country before the new rules were introduced. But those who came later were given special permission to enter, even with an official period of 72 hours.

Throughout Sunday’s race, all contestants tested for corona every 48 hours and were required to comply with the requirements of the mask.

In the midst of all this defense, French rival, Clemence Botino, was found with COVID-19 shortly after his arrival in Israel. After 10 days of isolation, she was declared HIV negative last week and allowed to enter the competition.

Last year’s competition was delayed due to the plague before Meza became king in May this year because of his short stature.