India’s Shashidhar fails to reach Miss Universe top 10 bar; Miss South Africa bags title

After Manushi Chillar winning the Miss World crown, 2017 can’t be better than this. But what had added spices to the sweet spot of India’s entry to Miss Universe is an African name Demi-Leigh Nel Peters who seized the Miss Universe pageant title from India’s Shraddha Shashidhar. Our own desi girl couldn’t make it to the top ten finalists in the contest.

Instead, it was Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters who was crowned Miss Universe this year. She became the first South African girl to win the title 39 years after the third position went to Miss Jamaica. The pageant was held in Las Vegas, USA.

Apart from these three, the contestant who made it to the top ten were from USA, Venezuela, Philippines, Canada, Spain, Brazil and Thailand. Overall 92 contestants participated in the contest where they were divided, for the first time, by the geographic region. The regions where they were divided were, Americas, Europe and Africa and Asian Pacific. For the first time, Cambodia, Nepal and Laos made their debut in the show.

Talking about Shraddha Shashidhar, while it is hard to lose the title after coming so close, India could never be less proud of this girl from Chennai that we are with Manushi Chillar, who won the Miss World 2017 title. Shraddha had done her schooling at Army Public School, Nashik and got a degree in mass media from Sophia College for Women, Mumbai. She had won the Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2017, as well as the Miss TGPC (The Great Pageant Community) South in 2017.

Only on two occasions has India took the Miss Universe and Miss World titles the same year. In 1994, Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively. Again, later, in 2000, Lara Dutta had won the Miss Universe title, while Priyanka Chopra bagged the Miss World title. The same year also saw Dia Mirza win the Miss Asia Pacific title too.