Miss India Manushi Chhillar was the winner of Miss World 2017 with Miss England Stephanie Hill landing the first runner-up slot. The second runner-up title at the 67th Miss World contest went to Miss Mexico Alma Andrea Meza Carmona.
After qualifying for the semi-finals in the Beauty with a Purpose project category, Chiedza appeared cautiously optimistic about leaving a mark at the global pageant but the going turned out to be tougher than she had anticipated.
Her project, in which she taught Doma girls in the Zambezi Valley how to make reusable sanitary pads, was included in the top 20 from the 112 projects that went through an adjudication process.
In the end, however, Chiedza did not make it among the finalists of the Beauty with a Purpose category which included Miss Philippines, Miss India, Miss Indonesia, Miss South Africa and Miss Vietnam.
After failing to make it into the top 40 via the Beauty with a Purpose project category, Chiedza’s other option was through the head-to-head challenge which was dependent on social media votes.
Miss Zimbabwe 2017 was in Group 18 along with Arual Longar (Miss World South Sudan 2017), Maria Elisabeth Tulián Marín (Miss World Spain 2017), Do My Linh (Miss World Vietnam 2017) and Hannah Elizabeth Williams (Miss World Wales 2017.
But just like she did in the purpose project category, Chiedza found the going tough as she did not muster enough votes to proceed to the next level.
The winner of the automatic ticket from Group 18 was Miss World Vietnam 2017 Do My Linh.
This year’s edition of Miss World was a tough one for African countries. Only two countries — Kenya and South Africa — made it into the top 10 which also included Miss Russia, Miss Indonesia, Miss England, Miss Korea, Miss India, Miss France and Miss Mexico.
Miss Zimbabwe Trust spokesperson Tendai Chirau told the Daily News that this year’s edition of Miss World 2017 was a tough one for all African countries.
“Chiedza did not make it. In fact, none of the African countries was in top three,” said Chirau.
He, however, could not be drawn into revealing the reaction of the Miss Zimbabwe Trust headed by Marry Chiwenga — wife of Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantino Chiwenga — to Chiedza’s performance at the global pageant.
“We will prepare our response after our board meeting tomorrow(today),” was all he could say. Daily News
