WE knew she was certainly going to excel at the Miss World 2014 and she did even more by blazing a trail at this year’s Miss World Pageant to be named among the top 10 finalists.

Guyana’s Rafieya Husain dazzled at every segment of the competition and when she was announced at No.4 among the top 10 finalists, all Guyana felt the excitement of her achievement.

Though she was not earmarked in the top five that eventually battled for the prestigious title, Guyana’s beauty ambassador has certainly signaled to the entire universe that Guyana is ready again for international pageantry.

Husain competed excellently throughout the competition to earn her status among the top 10 on the night of the finals. She had also placed among the top 15 in the Beauty with a Purpose competition. Her presentation was based on “Domestic Violence” and educated the audience about the scourge in Guyana.
Miss South Africa, 22-year-old Rolene Strauss, was crowned Miss World 2014 at the contest’s glitzy final in London on Sunday, with an estimated billion viewers watching on television around the globe.
Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was judged the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came third in the 64th annual competition, contested by women from 121 countries.
Medical student Strauss clasped her hands together in surprise and was crowned by the outgoing Miss World, Megan Young of the Philippines, to huge cheers in the ExCeL exhibition centre.

– Shimmering costumes –
Sunday’s show started with a spectacular choreographed dance routine, with all the beauty queens on stage in costumes inspired by their homelands — including Miss Bolivia in a colourful feathered headdress.
While beauty remains central to the event, the women taking part are chiefly judged on their talents and involvement in good causes.
Miss Malaysia won the talent competition in a live sing-off with Miss Scotland.
In the Beauty with a Purpose section — the heart of Miss World — contestants present a charitable project they have been working on in their homeland.

In this section, the judges gave equal first place to Misses Brazil, Guyana, India, Indonesia and Kenya, after being unable to separate them.
In rounds held since the contestants arrived in London, Miss Finland topped the sporting competition; Miss United States was the multimedia winner; Miss Bosnia and Hercegovina won the top model round and Miss Sweden triumphed in beach fashion.

– Bollywood star honoured –

The event also featured a special 20-year award for 1994’s Miss World, Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.
The 41-year-old Indian actress appeared on stage with her film star husband Abhishek Bachchan, their daughter Aaradhya and her mother.
The prize was for the “Dhoom 2” star’s charitable work with children with cleft palates since being made famous by the Miss World title.

The 10 contestants who topped the final scoreboard were, in descending order, from India, South Africa, England, Guyana, Brazil, Hungary, Kenya, United States, Mexico and Australia.
They were joined by Miss Thailand, who won the people’s choice award, voted for by people around the world through a mobile phone app.

The judges chose Miss Hungary, Miss Australia, Miss South Africa, Miss United States and Miss England as their top five before picking their top three.
Miss World began in 1951, a year before its chief rival Miss Universe.
Strauss is the third South African Miss World, the country having held the title in 1958 and 1974.
Venezuela tops the all-time leader board with six titles, ahead of India and the United Kingdom on five titles each.

The Guyana Chronicle joins with all Guyanese in applauding the success of Miss Husain and in wishing her the best in future endeavours.

(By Alex Wayne)