India's Harnaaz Sandhu becomes the new Miss Universe

Harnaaz Sandhu of India has been crowned the 70th Miss Universe, topping a field of some 80 contestants. She was crowned the titled by Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza of Mexico.  

Hailing from Chandigarh, Harnaaz Sandhu became the Miss Universe 2021 on December 12 at Universe Dome in Eilat, Israel — bringing the crown home after 21 years.  

The news of Harnaaz's win was posted by the official Instagram account of Miss Universe Organisation. "The new Miss Universe is…India," they captioned the clip. 

The clip shows Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza of Mexico crowning emotional Harnaaz who became her successor.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Miss Universe (@missuniverse)

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

The pageant was held in the middle of the night, wrapping up at 5am on Monday to accommodate the primetime schedule in the United States (US).

The pageant included traditional displays of national costumes, swimwear and a series of interview questions to test contestants’ public speaking skills. 

The top 10 showed off intricately bedazzled full-length gowns in either gold, silver or bronze.

However, the contest suffered a last-minute hiccup with the arrival of the Omicron variant, which forced Israel to close its borders to foreign tourists late last month. 

In 2020, the beauty pageant was delayed due to the pandemic before Meza was crowned in May of this year for her abbreviated tenure. 

Participants in the pageant, must be between the ages of 18 and 28 and should not be married or have a child.