Poland’s Karolina Bielawska wins and India’s Manasa Varanasi in Top 13 at Miss World 2021

Hyderabad: Karolina Bielawska of Poland has been crowned Miss World 2021, beating contestants from other countries while India’s Manasa Varanasi made it to the list of top 13 contestants, in the pageant held in Puerto Rico.

Indian-origin Shree Saini from the United States was declared the first runner up and the second runner up is Olivia Yace from Côte d’Ivoire.

Born in Hyderabad, Manasa Varanasi shifted to Malaysia at a young age due to her father’s work. Later she returned to India to study Engineering in Hyderabad. In 2020, she won the Femina Miss India where she represented the state of Telangana. She was also crowned as Femina Miss India World 2020.

The Miss World pageant and India’s contestant making it to the top 13 list comes over three months after India’s Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu bagged the Miss Universe 2021 title — 21 years after India brought home the crown.

This year’s contest marked the 70th edition of the beauty contest and was conducted during a span of 40 days through December. Over 90 contestants from across the globe participated in the pageant. The pageant was postponed in December last year after several contestants tested positive for coronavirus, including Manasa Varanasi.

Miss World 1986 Giselle Laronde, CEO of the Miss World Organization Julia Morley, and author Patrick Robinson were among the jury members for this year’s Miss World.